Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “turtles” come from?

Turtles derives from Middle English turteldoufe, a bird name of uncertain ultimate origin whose sense shifted to aquatic reptiles through folk etymology or semantic confusion.

turtles (English): plural of turtle; Gloves; Third-person singular...

Definitions

  1. plural of turtle; Gloves; Third-person singular...

Ancestry of “turtles”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Englishturtle dovesplural of turtle dove
2Englishturtle doveAny of several birds, called by this traditional...
3Middle Englishturtildove—
4Latinturturturtle dove
Every word from Latin turtur →