Etymology

Croat

Cro·at
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Today it means: A native or inhabitant of Croatia; a person of Croatian ethnicity. Full definition →

Medieval Latin Croata ← Proto-Slavic *xъrvatъ
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The story

  1. Proto-Slavic*xъrvatъ
  2. Medieval LatinCroata
  3. English todayCroat

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin Croata, borrowed from Proto-Slavic *xъrvatъ (“Croat”), the Croatian autonym. It, in turn, is probably of non-Slavic origin: probably from an Iranian or Germanic language. First attested in 1585. Doublet of cravat.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.