Etymology

bycatch

B3Y4C3A1T1C3H4

Today it means: Any fish (or other creatures) that are not targeted as a catch but are unintentionally caught, and often discarded back into the sea. Full definition →

English catch ← Middle English cacchen ← Anglo-Norman cachier
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The story

  1. Englishby-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*kap-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*kapyéti
  4. Proto-Indo-European*kaptós
  5. Proto-Italic*kaptos
  6. Latincaptus
  7. Vulgar Latin*captiāre
  8. Old Frenchchacier
  9. Anglo-Normancachier
  10. Middle Englishcacchen
  11. Englishcatch
  12. English todaybycatch

From by- + catch.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.