English
grassquit
From grass + quit (“small passerine bird”).
A compound of grass + quit ‘small passerine bird’
Proto-Indo-European *gʰreh₁- ‘to grow’
Proto-Germanic *grasą
Proto-West Germanic *gras
Old English græs
Middle English gras ‘a grass’
English grass
Proto-Indo-European *kʷyeh₁- ‘to rest’
…
Old French quitte ‘acquitted, free’
Old French quitter ‘to release, quit’
Anglo-Norman quitter
Middle English quiten
English quit
Today it means
noun Any of several small tropical birds now placed in the tanager family Thraupidae (but previously in Emberizidae), common in the West Indies and in countries of Central and South America around the Caribbean Sea.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / grassquit