Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “cutlass” come from?

Cutlass comes from Middle French coutelas, from Old French coutel, from Latin cultellus, a diminutive of Latin culter meaning knife.

cutlass (English): A short sword with a curved blade, and a convex...

Definitions

  1. A short sword with a curved blade, and a convex...

Ancestry of “cutlass”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Frenchcoutelas—
2Old Frenchcoutelknife
3Latincultellussmall knife; dagger
4Latin-lusAlternative form of -ulus; diminutive suffix
5Proto-Italic-elos—
6Proto-Indo-European-e-lós—
7Proto-Indo-European-lósForms agent nouns from verbal roots

Words derived from “cutlass”

  • cutlassfish
  • curtelasse
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -lós →