aitch

The story

1. Vulgar Latin · derived from*acca
2. Old French · derived fromache
3. Middle English · inherited fromache
4. English todayaitch

From Middle English ache, borrowed from Old French ache, from Vulgar Latin *acca. The source is unclear, but may descend from the vowelless alphabetic sequence ha ka 'H, K' (becoming [aka] when the [h] ceased to be pronounced), as K had low frequency in Late Latin. Doublet of ecchi.

Words from the same roots