Etymology

cachalot

C3A1C3H4A1L1O1T1

Today it means: The sperm whale, Physeter macrocephalus. Full definition →

French cachalot ← Portuguese cachalote ← Latin capulum
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*kap-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*kapyéti
  3. Proto-Italic*kapjō
  4. Latincapiō
  5. Latincapulum
  6. Portuguesecacho
  7. Portuguesecachola
  8. Portuguesecachalote
  9. Frenchcachalot
  10. English todaycachalot

Borrowed from French cachalot, from Portuguese cachalote, from cachola (“head”) + -ote.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.