peloton

The story

1. Latin · derived frompila“ball; ball game; globe, sphere”
2. French · borrowed frompeloton“small ball (of thread, etc.), pellet; (cycling) group of riders formed during a cycling road race; (military) small group of soldiers, platoon”
3. English todaypeloton

Borrowed from French peloton (“small ball (of thread, etc.), pellet; (cycling) group of riders formed during a cycling road race; (military) small group of soldiers, platoon”), from pelote (“small ball (of thread, etc.)”) (ultimately from Latin pila (“ball; ball game; globe, sphere”) (probably referring to a ball of hair), from pilus (“strand of hair”), of uncertain origin) + -on (augmentative suffix). Doublet of platoon.

Words from the same roots