milquetoast

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂melǵ-
2. Proto-Germanic*meluks
3. Proto-West Germanic*meluk
4. Anglian Old Englishmilc
5. Middle Englishmylk
6. Englishmilk
7. Englishmilque
8. Proto-Indo-European*ters-
9. Proto-Indo-European*tr̥stós
10. Proto-Italic*torstos
11. Latintostus
12. Late Latintostō
13. Old Frenchtoster
14. Middle Englishtostendeverb.
15. Middle Englishtost
16. Englishtoast
17. English todaymilquetoast

Named after Caspar Milquetoast, a character from the comic strip The Timid Soul, created by American cartoonist Harold Tucker Webster (1885–1952) and first published in 1924; the character was named after the American dish milk toast (“a food consisting of toasted bread in warm milk”), from milque (pseudo-Gallicism derived from English milk) + toast.