spot

spot · noun, verb, adjective¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*(s)pel-“to split”
2. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*splt-no-“an off-split, segment”
3. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*spluttaz“segment”
4. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*splott
5. Old English · inherited fromsplott“spot, plot of land”
6. Middle English · inherited fromsplot
7. Middle Dutch · derived fromspotte“spot, speck”
8. Middle English · inherited fromspot
9. English todayspot

From Middle English spot, spotte, partially from Middle Dutch spotte (“spot, speck”), and partially merging with Middle English splot, from Old English splott (“spot, plot of land”), from Proto-West Germanic *splott, from Proto-Germanic *spluttaz (“segment”), from Proto-Indo-European *splt-no- (“an off-split, segment”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pel- (“to split”). Cognate with North Frisian spot (“speck, piece of ground”), Low German spot (“speck”), Old Norse spotti (“small piece”). See also splot, splotch.

Spot · proper noun²

From spot.

Words from the same roots