Etymology

novelty

nov·el·ty
N1O1V4E1L1T1Y4

Today it means: The state of being new or novel; newness. Full definition →

Middle English novelte ← Old French novelté ← Latin novellus
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novelty · noun, adjective1

  1. Latin · derived fromnovellus
  2. Old French · derived fromnovelté
  3. Middle English · inherited fromnovelte
  4. English todaynovelty

From Middle English novelte, from Old French novelté (Modern French nouveauté), from the adjective novel, ultimately from Latin novellus. By surface analysis, novel + -ty.

Novelty · proper noun2

Named in the 1850s after the novelty goods sold by a local merchant.

Words from the same roots

Latinnovellus all →

novel

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.