Where does “ardvark” come from?
ardvark (Malay) comes from English aardvark, from Afrikaans aardvark, from Afrikaans vark, from Afrikaans vlakvark, from Afrikaans vlak, from Dutch vlak, from Middle Dutch vlac, from Old Dutch flak — flat surface.
ardvark (Malay): aardvark
Ancestry of “ardvark”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | aardvark | The nocturnal, insectivorous, burrowing, mammal... |
| 2 | Afrikaans | aardvark | Obsolete form of erdvark; aardvark |
| 3 | Afrikaans | vark | pig |
| 4 | Afrikaans | vlakvark | warthog |
| 5 | Afrikaans | vlak | flat, level, even; shallow; plane, surface |
| 6 | Dutch | vlak | flat, plane; A plain, a flat surface; A domain,... |
| 7 | Middle Dutch | vlac | — |
| 8 | Old Dutch | flak | — |
| 9 | Proto-West Germanic | *flak | — |
| 10 | Proto-Germanic | flakaz | flat |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | pl̥keh | flat surface |