Etymology

clipbait

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Today it means: Something created with the intent that video clips of the subject would go viral online. Full definition →

English bait ← Middle English bayte ← Old Norse beita
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The story

  1. Old Norseklippa
  2. Middle Englishclippen
  3. Englishclip
  4. Proto-Indo-European*bʰeyd-
  5. Proto-Indo-European*bʰéydt
  6. Proto-Germanic*bītaną
  7. Proto-Germanic*baitijaną
  8. Old Norsebeita
  9. Middle Englishbayte
  10. Englishbait
  11. English todayclipbait

From clip + -bait (“manipulation to elicit a particular response”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.