Etymology

grasshopper

grass·hop·per
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Today it means: A mostly herbivorous insect of the order Orthoptera, noted for its ability to jump long distances and for the habit of some species communicating by stridulation; they are related to but distinct from crickets. Full definition →

Middle English grashoppere ← Old English græshoppa
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The story

  1. Old English · inherited fromgræshoppa“grasshopper”
  2. Middle English · inherited fromgrashoppere
  3. English todaygrasshopper

From Middle English grashoppere, alteration of earlier grashoppe, from Old English græshoppa (“grasshopper”). Equivalent to grass + hopper. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Gäärshupper, Dutch grashupper, grashipper, German Low German Grashüpper, Gresshüpper, German Grashüpfer, Danish græshoppe, Swedish gräshoppa, Norwegian gresshoppe.

Words from the same roots

Old Englishgræshoppa all →

grasshop

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.