bat

bat · noun¹

1. North Germanic · derived from
2. Middle English · inherited frombakke
3. English todaybat

Variant of Middle English bakke, of North Germanic origin (akin to Danish aftenbakke and Swedish nattbacka, both now dialectal). Swedish also has nattblacka, and Icelandic has leðurblaka, in which the second element is a derivative of blaka (“to flap”), but it is unclear whether this word is also the source of bakke, backa, etc.

bat · noun²

1. Proto-Indo-European*bʰedʰh₂-der.?
2. Old Englishbatt
3. Old Frenchbatteinflu.
4. Middle Englishbat
5. English todaybat

From Middle English bat, batte, from Old English batt (“bat, club, cudgel”), probably of Celtic origin, compare Old Breton bath (“club, cudgel”) and modern Breton bazh (“swagger stick”), ultimately from a derivative of Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰh₂- (“to strike, beat, pierce”), similar to the Gaulish source of Latin battuō (“to beat, pound”).

bat · verb³

1. Latin · derived frombattuere
2. Late Latin · derived frombattere
3. Old French · derived frombatre“to beat”
4. Middle English · inherited frombatten
5. English todaybat

From Middle English batten, baten (“to beat”), from Old French batre (“to beat”), from Late Latin battere, from Latin battuere, of uncertain origin; perhaps of Germanic or Celtic origin. In modern English reinterpreted as a verbal derivative of Etymology 2. Compare batter, battery.

bat · verb⁴

Possibly a variant of bate.

bat · noun⁵

1. Ancient Greek · derived fromβαστάζω“to lift, carry”
2. Vulgar Latin · derived from*bastum
3. Old French · derived frombast
4. French · borrowed frombât
5. English todaybat

Borrowed from French bât, from Old French bast, from Vulgar Latin *bastum, form of *bastāre (“to carry”), from Ancient Greek βαστάζω (bastázō, “to lift, carry”). Doublet of baton and baston.

Words from the same roots