Etymology

godwit

G2O1D2W4I1T1

Today it means: Any of four species of long-billed migratory wading birds in the genus Limosa, of the family Scolopacidae. Full definition →

Old English *gōdwiht
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The story

  1. Old English · inherited from*gōdwiht
  2. English todaygodwit

Origin unknown. A surface analysis would suggest Old English *gōdwiht as the term's ultimate origin, corresponding to good + wight (“creature”), but the term is attested only since late Middle English. The Oxford English Dictionary considers the term to probably have originally been imitative of the bird's call.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.