Etymology

cuddle

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Today it means: An intimate physical embrace, typically while lying (or sitting): a snuggle, an instance of lying together snugly, as one might with a partner (more intimate than a hug, and typically of longer duration). Full definition →

Middle English *cudden
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The story

  1. Middle English · derived fromcuth
  2. Middle English · derived from*cudden
  3. English todaycuddle

Origin uncertain, but probably from a frequentative form of Middle English *cudden, cuththen, keththen (“to embrace”), a variant of cuthen, kuthen, kithen (“to be familiar with, make known”), from Middle English cuth, couth (“known, familiar”), equivalent to couth + -le. Cognate with Middle Dutch kudden (“to come together, flock together”). More at couth.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.