Etymograph

English

pad

Pad comes from West Flemish pad ‘sole of the foot’.

  1. West Flemishmodernpad‘sole of the foot’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1819same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. West Flemishmodernpad‘sole of the foot’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1819same form

Earliest quotation: 1819, Abraham Rees: “[…] to pad a piece in diluted acetate of…”

The story

Unknown, and unclear all senses have common etymology.uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain. Low German or West Flemish pad (‘sole of the foot’), perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pent- (‘to pass’), which would make it related to both path and find.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *pent- ‘to pass’

find, path, patrol, faze, pontiff, sputnik, pontoon, pontifical, pons, pontifex, 14 more

Another origin of pad

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bed-‘to swell’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*paddǭ‘toad’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*paddā‘toad’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150padde
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pade
  6. Englishtodaypad

Another origin of pad

  1. Dutchc. 1500–presentpaduncertain
  2. Englishtodaysame form

Another origin of pad

  1. Middle Low Germanc. 1200–1600patuncertain
  2. Englishtodaypad

Some senses possibly influenced by pad (“soft part of an animal's foot”, noun).

Today it means

noun A flattened mass of anything soft, to sit or lie on.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / West Flemish pad / pad

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