Etymology

martlet

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Today it means: A bird, the martin. Full definition →

Middle English martilet ← Middle French martinet ← Medieval Latin martineta
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The story

  1. Middle French · derived frommerlet
  2. Medieval Latin · derived frommartineta
  3. Middle French · derived frommartinet
  4. Middle English · inherited frommartilet
  5. English todaymartlet

From Middle English martilet, probably a blend of martinet (“martin”; from Middle French martinet and Medieval Latin martineta) and Middle French merlet.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.