Meanings
cuttle1
cuttle2
cuttle3
plural cuttles
- obsoleteA foul-mouthed fellow.
An you play the saucy cuttle me.
c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv]
Synonyms & antonyms
nounSynonym of cuttlefish.
More synonyms by meaning
nounten-armed oval-bodied cephalopod with narrow fins as long as the body and a large calcareous internal shell
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
cuttle · noun
- Proto-Indo-European*gewt-“pouch, sack”
- Proto-Germanic*kuddô
- Proto-Germanic*kudulǭ
- Old Englishcudele“cuttlefish”
- Middle Englishcutil
- Englishcuttle
From Middle English cutil, codel, codul, from Old English cudele (“cuttlefish”), a diminutive from Proto-Germanic *kudulǭ, from Proto-Germanic *kuddô + -ulǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *gewt- (“pouch, sack”), from *gew- (“to bend, bow, arch, vault, curve”). Equivalent to cod + -le (diminutive suffix). Compare dialectal German Kudele (“cuttlefish”), Norwegian kaule (“cuttlefish”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →cuttle · noun
- Latincultellus
- Old Frenchcoutel
- Middle Englishcoutel
- Englishcuttle
From Middle English coutel, from Old French coutel, coltel, cultel, from Latin cultellus. Doublet of couteau. See cutlass.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
cuttle. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cuttle
“cuttle.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cuttle. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cuttle,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cuttle.
Source: cuttle on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.