"C" Word Origins

catstail

Origin

From Middle English cattestail, equivalent to cat + -s- + tail.

cattle

Latin

From Old Northern French catel, "personal property," ultimately from Latin capitalis ("of the head") — a doublet of both capital and chattel, since livestock counted as wealth measured by the head.

cattleman

Origin

From cattle + man.

catty

Origin

From cat + -y, likening sharp, sly remarks to a cat's hidden claws.

catwalk

Origin

From cat + walk, describing a walkway narrow enough that only a cat could tread it comfortably.

catwoman

Origin

From cat + woman.

Caucasian

German · 1790

From Caucasus, the mountain range, + -ian. The racial-classification sense was popularized in the 1790s by the German scientist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, who mistakenly believed the first humans originated there — the theory itself is no longer considered scientifically valid.

caucasoid

Origin

From Caucasian + -oid.

Caucasus

Ancient Greek

Via Latin Caucasus, from Ancient Greek Kaukasos.

caucus

Origin · 1760

Origin uncertain — possibly from an Algonquian word for "counselor" or "elder," or from the Caucus Club of 1760s Boston.

caudate

Origin

Borrowed from Medieval Latin caudātus, from Classical Latin cauda (“tail”) + -ātus; see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and -ate (noun-forming suffix).

caudex

Origin

From Latin caudex (“tree trunk”, “tree stem”); compare codex.

cauldron

Late Latin

From Old Northern French caudron, from Late Latin caldaria ("cooking pot"), from Latin caldus ("hot"). Related to "chowder" and "caldera."

cauliflower

Latin

From an earlier form cole-florye — cole (from Latin caulis, "cabbage stalk") + flower — later respelled to look more Latin.

caulk

Latin

From Old North French cauquer, from Latin calcare 'to tread or press down', reflecting the original sense of pressing material into a ship's seams.

causation

Origin

From cause + -ation.

cause

Latin

From Old French cause, from Latin causa ("reason, motive"), of unknown deeper origin — a doublet of the legal term "chose."

causeless

Origin

From Middle English causelees, causeles; equivalent to cause + -less.

causerie

Origin

From French causerie.

causeway

Latin

From Middle English cauce, from Old French cauciee ("paved way"), ultimately from Latin calx ("limestone") — the same root gives French chaussée.

caustic

Latin

From Latin causticus, from Greek kaustikos, "burning," from kaustos, "burnt."

cauterize

Late Latin

From Late Latin cauterizare, "to burn with a hot iron," from Greek kauterion, "branding iron."

caution

Latin

From Old French caution ("security, guarantee"), from Latin cautio, from cavere, "to be on one's guard."

cautionary

Medieval Latin

From Medieval Latin cautionarius, related to caution.

cautious

Latin

From caution + -ous, echoing Latin cautus.

Cava

Catalan

From Catalan cava, literally "wine cellar" — the underground cellars where the wine is aged.

cavalier

Latin

From Middle French cavalier ("horseman"), tracing back through Italian and Occitan to Latin caballus ("horse"). A doublet of "chevalier" and "caballero."

cavalry

Middle French · 1540

From Middle French cavalerie, via Italian cavalleria. In English since the 1540s; a doublet of "chivalry."

Cavanaugh

Irish

A variant spelling of the Irish surname Kavanagh.

cave

Latin

From Old French cave, from Latin cava ("hollow, cavity"), from cavus ("hollow"). It replaced the native Old English word sċræf.

caveat

Latin

From Latin caveat, "let him beware" — a form of the verb caveō, "to be on guard." A doublet of "show."

caveman

Origin

From cave + man, based on the idea that early humans lived in caves.

Cavendish

Origin

The tobacco is named after William Cavendish; the popular Cavendish banana is likewise named after a different Duke of Devonshire from the same family.

cavern

Latin

From Old French caverne, from Latin caverna ("cavity, cave"), from cavus ("hollow").

cavernous

Origin

Late Middle English cavernous, cavernose, borrowing from Old French caverneux or Latin cavernōsus (“full of hollows or cavities”), from caverna (“a hollow, cavity, cave”) + -ōsus (“-ous, -ose”, adjectival suffix); equivalent to cavern + -ous.

caviar

French

Borrowed via French and Italian from Ottoman Turkish, ultimately from a Persian word — a doublet of "ajvar."

cavity

Late Latin · 1500

From Late Latin cavitās, from cavus ("hollow") plus the suffix -tās ("-ity"). First recorded in English in the mid-16th century.

cavort

Origin

Originated in the United States in 1793, as cauvaut, applying to horses, probably from the colloquial intensifying prefix ca-/ka- + vault (“jump, leap”); later generalized. Early sources connect it to cavault, a term for a certain demeanor of horses. Alternatively, a variation of curvet.

caw

Origin

An onomatopoeic word imitating the sound itself.

Cawdor

Origin

According to Watson (1926), from a Pictish river-name; equivalent to Welsh caled (“hard”) + dwr (“water”).

Cayenne

French

Named after Cayenne, the capital of French Guiana, though the French themselves connected the word to a term for a naval kitchen or barracks.

CBA

English

An initialism of can't be bothered (also of cost-benefit analysis in business use).

cc

English

An initialism of carbon copy, from the sheets of carbon paper once used to produce duplicates of typed letters.

cc and bcc

English

From carbon copy and blind carbon copy, referring to the sheets of carbon paper once used to produce duplicates of a typed letter.

CCP

English

An initialism of Chinese Communist Party.

cD

Origin

An abbreviation of "compact disc."

CDN

English

An initialism of content delivery network.

cease

Latin

From Middle English cesen, borrowed via Old French cesser from Latin cessare ("to leave off, delay"), a frequent form of cedere ("to go away, withdraw"). Related to "cessation" and "recede."