Where does “Trittbrettfahrer” come from?
Trittbrettfahrer (German) comes from German Trittbrett, from German brett, from Middle High German bret, from Old High German bret, from Proto-West Germanic *bred, from Proto-Germanic bredą, from Proto-Germanic bʰredʰóm, from Proto-Indo-European bʰer-dʰ- — to bear, carry.
Trittbrettfahrer (German): freeloader
Ancestry of “Trittbrettfahrer”, step by step