English
fishbait
From fish + bait.
Proto-Indo-European *piskós
Proto-Germanic *fiskaz
Proto-West Germanic *fisk
Old English fisċ
Middle English fisch ‘an animal that inhabits the water or the meat…’
English fish
Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- ‘to cleave, split, separate’
…
Proto-Germanic *bītaną ‘to bite’
Proto-Germanic *baitijaną ‘to make bite’
Old Norse beita ‘food, bait’
Middle English bayte ‘Bait or lure’
English bait
Today it means
noun bait for fishing
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / fishbait