Etymology

jackal

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Today it means: Any of certain wild canids of the genera Lupulella and Canis, native to the tropical Old World and smaller than a wolf. Full definition →

French chacal ← Turkish çakal ← Ottoman Turkish چقال
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The story

  1. Sanskrit · derived fromशृगाल“jackal”
  2. Classical Persian · derived fromشغال
  3. Ottoman Turkish · derived fromچقال
  4. Turkish · derived fromçakal
  5. French · borrowed fromchacal
  6. English todayjackal

Borrowed from French chacal, chacale, checale, schakal, ciacale, from Turkish çakal, from Ottoman Turkish چقال (çakâl), from Classical Persian شغال (šaġāl), borrowed from Sanskrit शृगाल (śṛgāla, “jackal”), the alternative form of सृगाल (sṛgāla).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.