English
hammertailhammertail
From hammer + tail.
A compound of hammer + tail
Proto-Germanic *hamaraz ‘tool with a stone head’
Proto-West Germanic *hamar
Old English hamor
Middle English hamer ‘a hammer’
English hammer
Proto-Indo-European *deḱ- ‘to tear, fray, shred’
…
Proto-Germanic *taglą ‘hair, fiber’
Proto-West Germanic *tagl
Old English tæġel
Middle English tail
English tail
Today it means
noun Any of the genus Efferia of large, often dull-colored robber flies, the males of which have a mallet-like appendage at the ends of their abdomens.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / hammertail
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