Etymology

wainscot

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Today it means: An area of wooden (especially oaken) panelling on the lower part of a room’s walls. Full definition →

Middle English waynscot ← Middle Low German wagenschot ← Middle Dutch waghenscote
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The story

  1. Old Saxon · derived fromwagan
  2. Middle Dutch · derived fromwaghenscote
  3. Middle Low German · derived fromwagenschot
  4. Middle English · inherited fromwaynscot
  5. English todaywainscot

From Middle English waynscot, from Middle Low German wagenschot or Middle Dutch waghenscote, assumed to be from wagen (“wagon”) (from Old Saxon wagan) + schot, meaning “partition, crossbar," which is from or related to skiotan (“to shoot”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.