English
patch
Patch comes from Middle English patche ‘a cloth patch on a garment’.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500patche‘a cloth patch on a garment’
- Englishearliest quotation 1625patch
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500patche‘a cloth patch on a garment’
- Englishearliest quotation 1625patch
Earliest quotation: 1625, John Fletcher, The Elder Brother. A Comedy.: “Your black patches you wear variously.”
The story
For the loss of l compare pat from Middle English platten. Germanic cognates would then include Middle English plecke, dialectal English pleck (‘plot of ground, patch’), West Frisian plak (‘place, spot’), Low German Plakk, Plakke (‘spot, piece, patch’), Dutch plek (‘spot, place, stain, patch’), Dutch plak (‘piece, slab’), Swedish plagg (‘garment’), Faroese plagg (‘cloth, rag’).
Linked words
through Proto-Celtic *kʷezdis ‘piece, portion’
through Old French piece
Today it means
noun A piece of cloth, or other suitable material, sewed or otherwise fixed upon a garment to repair or strengthen it, especially upon an old garment to cover a hole.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English patche / patch