tweezers

The story

1. Latin · derived fromstudēre“to care about”
2. Vulgar Latin · derived from*estudiāre“to keep, treat with care”
3. Old French · derived fromestui“container, prison”
4. French · derived frométuis
5. English todaytweezers

17th century (1645–55): plural of tweeser (on the model of nippers, pincers, pliers or scissors), from obsolete tweese (“case for small instruments”) (or alternatively, alteration of plural form tweeses), aphetic form of earlier etweese (plural of etwee), from French étuis, plural of étui (“case, box, cover”) (from Old French estui (“container, prison”, noun), derivative of étuier (earlier spelling, estuier (“to shut up, guard, keep, preserve, save, enclose, place in a cover”), probably from Vulgar Latin *estudiāre (“to keep, treat with care”) or *studiāre, from Latin studēre (“to care about”).

Words from the same roots