moat

moat · noun, verb¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*(s)mut-“dark, dirty”
2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*mutô
3. Frankish · derived from*mot
4. Germanic · derived from
5. Medieval Latin · derived frommota“a mound, hill”
6. Old French · derived frommote“mound, embankment”
7. Middle English · inherited frommote
8. English todaymoat

From Middle English mote, from Old French mote (“mound, embankment”); compared also to Old French motte (“hillock, lump, clod, turf”), from Medieval Latin mota (“a mound, hill”), of Germanic origin, perhaps via Frankish *mot, *motta (“mud, peat, bog, turf”), from Proto-Germanic *mutô, *mudraz, *muþraz (“dirt, filth, mud, swamp”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mut- (“dark, dirty”). Cognate with Alemannic German Mott, Mutte (“peat, turf”), Bavarian Mott (“peat, turf”), dialectal Dutch mot (“dust, fine sand”), Saterland Frisian mut (“grit, litter, humus”), Swedish muta (“to drizzle”), Old English mot (“speck, particle”). More at mote, mud, smut. As term for a business strategy, popularized by American investor Warren Buffett.

Moat · proper noun²

From moat, a topographic surname for someone who lived near a moat.

Words from the same roots