Etymology

patrol

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Today it means: A going of the rounds along the chain of sentinels and between the posts, by a guard, usually consisting of three or four men, to insure greater security from attacks on the outposts. Full definition →

French patrouille ← Old French patrouille ← Vulgar Latin *patta
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patrol · noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*pent-
  2. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*(s)pent-
  3. Proto-Germanic · derived from*paþjaną
  4. Frankish · derived from*patta“paw, sole of the foot”
  5. Vulgar Latin · derived from*patta“paw, foot”
  6. Old French · derived frompatrouille
  7. French · borrowed frompatrouille
  8. English todaypatrol

From French patrouille, from Old French patrouille, patouille (“a night-watch”, literally “a tramping about”), from patrouiller, patouiller, patoiller (“to paddle or pudder in water, dabble with the feet, begrime, besmear”), from patte, pate (“paw, foot of an animal”), from Vulgar Latin *patta (“paw, foot”), from Frankish *patta (“paw, sole of the foot”), from Proto-Germanic *paþjaną, *paþōną (“to walk, tread, go, step, pace”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pent-, *(s)pat- (“path; to walk”), a variant of Proto-Indo-European *pent-, *pat- (“path; to go”); see find. Cognate with Dutch pad, patte (“paw”), Low German pedden (“to step, tread”), German patschen (“to splash, smack, dabble, waddle”), German Patsche (“a swatter, beater, paw, puddle, mire”). Related to pad, path.

patrol · verb2

  1. Old French · derived frompatrouiller“to paddle, paw about, patrol”
  2. French · derived frompatrouiller
  3. English todaypatrol

From French patrouiller, from Old French patrouiller (“to paddle, paw about, patrol”), from patte (“a paw”).

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*pent- all →

findpadfaze

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.