Etymology

cutlass

C3U1T1L1A1S1S1

Today it means: A short sword with a curved blade, and a convex edge; once used by sailors when boarding an enemy ship. Full definition →

Middle French coutelas ← Old French coutel
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The story

  1. Old French · derived fromcoutel“knife”
  2. Middle French · derived fromcoutelas
  3. English todaycutlass

From Middle French coutelas, from Old French coutel (“knife”) + -as (augmentative suffix).

Words from the same roots

Old Frenchcoutel all →

cuttle

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.