Etymology

semiquote

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Today it means: A single quotation mark, ('). This is often used for a quote within a quote, as in "Tom said 'What?'" Full definition →

English quote ← Middle English quoten ← Old French coter
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*sem-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*sēmi
  3. Latinsēmi-
  4. Englishsemi-
  5. Proto-Indo-European*kʷóti
  6. Proto-Italic*kʷot
  7. Latinquot
  8. Latinquotus
  9. Medieval Latinquotāre
  10. Old Frenchcoter
  11. Middle Englishquoten
  12. Englishquote
  13. English todaysemiquote

From semi- + quote.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.