Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “freebooter” come from?

Freebooter derives from English free and English bootleg, with bootleg coming from English boot and English leg, ultimately from English bottom.

freebooter (English): An adventurer who pillages, plunders or wages...

Definitions

  1. An adventurer who pillages, plunders or wages...

Ancestry of “freebooter”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishbootyA form of prize which, when a ship was captured...
2EnglishbootA heavy shoe that covers part of the leg; A blow...
3Frenchbotteboot; something resembling a boot; oppression
4Italianbottablow, hit, shock, knock, attack
5Italianbottare—
6Frenchbouterto push; to remove flesh from the skin of an...
7Middle Frenchbouterto pull
8Old Frenchbouterto strike; to hit; to place; to put; to enter
9Frankishbautanto push, strike, beat; to hit, strike; to hit,...
10Proto-West Germanicbautanto beat
11Proto-Germanicbautanąto beat, push
12Proto-Indo-Europeanbʰewd-to hit, strike; to beat, push; to strike, push,...
13Proto-Indo-Europeanbʰew-to grow, swell; to swell, wax, grow; to blow; to...

Words derived from “freebooter”

  • freebooting
  • filibustiere
  • filibustrière
Every word from Proto-Indo-European bʰew- →