Where does “greatcoat” come from?
Greatcoat derives from English great and coat, with great tracing back through Old English grēat and Proto-Germanic grautaz to Frankish kotta, ultimately from Latin cubare meaning "to lie down."
greatcoat (English): A heavy overcoat
Definitions
- A heavy overcoat
Ancestry of “greatcoat”, step by step
greatcoat traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English Great
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Great | Taking much space; large |
| 2 | Middle English | grete | great; massive; amazing |
| 3 | Old English | grēat | great, large; big, thick, coarse, massive |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | graut | — |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | grautaz | coarse, crude; big, large |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | ǵʰer- | to yearn for; to enclose; bowels, intestines |