Where does “mallet” come from?
Mallet comes from Old French mallet, derived from Old French mal meaning "bad," from Latin malus meaning "bad," from Proto-Indo-European melH₂- meaning "soft" or "mild," ultimately from the root mey-.
mallet (English): A type of hammer with a larger-than-usual head...
Definitions
- A type of hammer with a larger-than-usual head...
Ancestry of “mallet”, step by step
mallet traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Old French mallet
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old French | mallet | — |
| 2 | Old French | mal | evilly; badly; poorly; evil |
| 3 | Latin | malleus | hammer, mallet; a disease of animals; the... |
| 4 | Proto-Indo-European | melh₂-no- | — |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | melh₂- | to grind, to crush |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | mel- | soft; tender; weak; to deceive; to rub |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | mey- | to strengthen; to bind; to change, exchange |