Where does “horseplay” come from?
Horseplay derives from Middle English hors, meaning horse, combined with Middle English plaien, from Latin placēre, meaning to please or satisfy.
horseplay (English): Rough or rowdy play that can often result in...
Definitions
- Rough or rowdy play that can often result in...
Ancestry of “horseplay”, step by step
horseplay traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English play
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | play | To act in a manner such that one has fun; to... |
| 2 | Middle English | pleye | Happiness, mirth, jolliness, or gaiety; Fun,... |
| 3 | Old English | pleġa | exercise |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | plegō | care; an exercise; a game |
| 5 | Proto-West Germanic | -ō | Creates adverbs from adjectives; Creates agent... |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | -ô | -ly; Forms agent nouns, often from the zero-grade... |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -ō | Derives nouns from roots |