Where does “catchy” come from?
Catchy comes from Middle English -y, from Middle French -ie, from Latin -ia, from Latin -ivus, from Latin -ia, from Latin ago meaning to do or drive.
catchy (English): Instantly appealing and memorable; Tending to...
Definitions
- Instantly appealing and memorable; Tending to...
Ancestry of “catchy”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | catch | The act of seizing or capturing; The act of... |
| 2 | Middle English | cacchen | to catch |
| 3 | Anglo-Norman | cachier | to hide; Alternative form of chacier |
| 4 | Vulgar Latin | coacticare | present active infinitive of *coacticō |
| 5 | Latin | coactō | to compel, constrain, force |
| 6 | Latin | coactus | forced, compelled, having been forced; urged,... |
| 7 | Latin | cōgō | to collect, assemble, gather together |
| 8 | Latin | cōn- | Used in compounds to indicate a being or bringing together of several objects |
| 9 | Latin | cum | with, along with; at; -fold |
| 10 | Old Latin | com | Alternative form of cum |
| 11 | Proto-Italic | kom | with, along, at |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱóm | beside, near, by, with |
| 13 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱe | Deictic particle, here; Post-positional... |
| 14 | Middle English | kyt | — |
| 15 | German | kitt | putty certain kinds of cement used for fixing e.g. window panes |
| 16 | Old High German | kuti | — |
| 17 | Proto-West Germanic | kwidu | gum, resin |
| 18 | Proto-Germanic | kweduz | resin |