culvert

The story

1. Dutch · derived fromvaart“a trip by boat, a canal”
2. French · derived fromcouler“to flow”
3. French · derived fromcouvert“covered”
4. English todayculvert

Origin obscure, with a number of possible etymologies suggested: * a dialectal word, * a word related to the name of the now-forgotten inventor, * a derivation from French couvert (“covered”), although couvert is not used in this sense and the French translation of culvert is ponceau or buse de drainage, * a derivation from an unrecorded Dutch word, possibly *coul-vaart, a combination of Dutch coul-, from French couler (“to flow”), and Dutch vaart (“a trip by boat, a canal”).

Words from the same roots