Where does “gambit” come from?
Gambit comes from Italian gambetto, from Italian gamba and Latin -ittus, ultimately from Latin gammarus and Proto-Indo-European kamp- meaning to bend or curve.
gambit (English): An opening in chess, in which a minor piece or a...
Definitions
- An opening in chess, in which a minor piece or a...
Ancestry of “gambit”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Italian | gambetto | trip; gambit |
| 2 | Italian | -etto | Alterative suffix used to form melioratives,... |
| 3 | English | -et | Used to form diminutives, loosely construed |
| 4 | Middle English | -et | Forms diminutive nouns from nouns; in some words,... |
| 5 | Old French | -et | Used to form a diminutive, masculine noun;... |
| 6 | Latin | -ātus | ed |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | -ātos | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -éh₂tos | Forms adjectives from nouns, indicating the possession of a thing or a quality |