Etymology

kaput

K5A1P3U1T1

Today it means: Out of order; not working. Full definition →

German kaputt ← French capot ← Old French capote
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*kap-?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*kap-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*káput
  4. Proto-Italic*kaput
  5. Latincaput
  6. Latincapitulum
  7. Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
  8. Proto-Indo-European*h₂élisder.?
  9. Latincapitulāre?
  10. Late Latincappa
  11. Old Frenchcape
  12. Old Frenchcapote
  13. Frenchcapot
  14. Germankaputt
  15. English todaykaput

Borrowed from German kaputt (“broken, out of order”), from French capot (“to be without a trick in the card game Piquet”). Cognate to Dutch kapot. Doublet of capot and capote.

Words from the same roots

Frenchcapot all →

capot

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.