Where does “wildcat” come from?
Wildcat comes from Middle English wyld cat, a compound of wyld (wild) and cat, with origins tracing back through Old English and ultimately to Germanic roots.
wildcat (English): A cat that lives in the wilderness,...
Definitions
- A cat that lives in the wilderness,...
Ancestry of “wildcat”, step by step
wildcat traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.
via English Cat
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Cat | A piece of heavy machinery, such as a backhoe, of... |
| 2 | English | concatenate | To join or link together, as though in a chain;... |
| 3 | Latin | concatenatus | which is to be linked or bound together or connected |
| 4 | Latin | concateno | concatenate; link or chain together |
| 5 | Latin | cōn- | Used in compounds to indicate a being or bringing together of several objects |
| 6 | Latin | cum | with, along with; at; -fold |
| 7 | Old Latin | com | Alternative form of cum |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | kom | with, along, at |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱóm | beside, near, by, with |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱe | Deictic particle, here; Post-positional... |
| 11 | Middle English | kyt | — |
| 12 | German | kitt | putty certain kinds of cement used for fixing e.g. window panes |
| 13 | Old High German | kuti | — |
| 14 | Proto-West Germanic | kwidu | gum, resin |
| 15 | Proto-Germanic | kweduz | resin |
| 16 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷet- | resin, gum; to say, speak |
| 17 | Proto-Indo-European | gū- | to bend; curve; arch; vault; to bow, bend, arch,... |
via English wild
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | wild | Untamed; not domesticated; specifically, in an... |
| 2 | Middle English | wild | — |
| 3 | Old English | wilde | wild, savage |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | wilþī | wild |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | wilþijaz | wild |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | h₂welh₁- | to rule; strong, powerful; hair; wool |
via Middle English wyld cat
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | wyld cat | — |