Etymology

cart

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Today it means: A small, open, wheeled vehicle, drawn or pushed by a person or animal, often with two wheels on one axle, more often used for transporting goods than passengers. Full definition →

Middle English cart ← Old English cræt ← Proto-West Germanic *krat
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cart · noun, verb1

  1. Old Norsekartr
  2. Proto-Germanic*kradô
  3. Proto-West Germanic*krat
  4. Old Englishcræt
  5. Middle Englishcart
  6. English todaycart

From Middle English cart, kart, from Old Norse kartr (“wagon; cart”), merged with native Old English cræt (“a chariot; cart”), from Proto-Germanic *krattaz, *krattijô, *kradō, from Proto-Indo-European *gret- (“tracery; wattle; cradle; cage; basket”), from *ger- (“to turn, wind”). Cognate with West Frisian kret (“wheelbarrow for hauling dung”), Dutch krat, kret (“crate; wheelbarrow for hauling dung”), German Krätze (“basket; pannier”). Wider cognates include Sanskrit ग्रन्थ (grantha, “a binding”).

cart · noun2

Clipping of cartridge.

Words from the same roots

Old Norsekartr all →

Cartledge

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.