piece

The story

1. Proto-Celtic · derived from*kʷezdis“piece, portion, quota”
2. Gaulish · derived from*pettyā
3. Late Latin · derived frompecia
4. Old French · derived frompiece
5. Middle English · inherited frompece
6. English todaypiece

From Middle English pece, peece, peice, from Old French piece, from Late Latin pecia, petia (“broken piece, fragment; parcel of land”), of uncertain origin. Possibly ultimately from Gaulish *pettyā, from Proto-Celtic *kʷezdis (“piece, portion, quota”). Compare Welsh peth (“thing, stuff, junk”), Breton pez (“thing”), Irish cuid (“part, portion”). Compare French pièce, Portuguese peça, Spanish pieza, Italian pezza, Italian pezzo. Displaced native Middle English sticche, stucche (“piece, fragment”) from Old English styċċe (“piece, portion”), whence also English styca.

Words from the same roots