Etymology

petty knife

Today it means: A Japanese paring knife. Full definition →

Japanese ペティナイフ ← French petit ← English knife
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The story

  1. English · derived fromknife
  2. French · derived frompetit
  3. Japanese · derived fromペティナイフ
  4. English todaypetty knife

From petty + knife, Derived from Japanese ペティナイフ, a compound of ペティ (unknown, perhaps from French petit) + ナイフ (from English knife).

Words from the same roots

Frenchpetit all →

petitPetit CanouanPetite DominiquePetite MartiniquePetite MustiquePetit NevisPetit Saint Vincent

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.