Etymology

toad

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Today it means: An amphibian, a kind of frog (broad sense, order Anura) with shorter hindlegs and a drier, wartier skin, many in family Bufonidae. Full definition →

Middle English tode ← Old English *tāde
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The story

  1. Old English · derived fromtādie
  2. Old English · inherited from*tāde
  3. Middle English · inherited fromtode
  4. English todaytoad

From Middle English tode, toode, tadde, tade, from Old English *tāde, a shortened variant of Old English tādie, tādiġe (“toad”). Cognate with Scots tade, taid, taed, ted (“toad”). Compare also Danish tudse (“toad”), possibly originally from the same prehistoric root; also Swedish tåssa, tossa (“toad”), Old English tāxe (“toad”), Old English tosca (“toad”) by contrast.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.