Etymology

mastiff

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Today it means: One of an old breed of powerful, deep-chested, and smooth-coated dogs, used chiefly as watchdogs and guard dogs. Full definition →

Middle English mastif ← Old French mastin ← Vulgar Latin *mansuetinus
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The story

  1. Latin · derived frommansuetus“tamed”
  2. Vulgar Latin · derived from*mansuetinus“tamed (animal)”
  3. Old French · derived frommastin
  4. Middle English · inherited frommastif
  5. English todaymastiff

From Middle English mastif, mastyf, an aberrant derivation (with influence from Old French mestif) from Old French mastin (modern French mâtin), from Vulgar Latin *mansuetinus (“tamed (animal)”), from Latin mansuetus (“tamed”).

Words from the same roots

Latinmansuetus all →

mansuete

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.