cot

Meaning

Noun

  • A simple bed, especially one for portable or temporary purposes.
  • A bed for infants or small children, with high, often slatted, often moveable sides.
  • A wooden bed frame, slung by its corners from a beam, in which officers slept before the introduction of bunks.
  • A cottage or small homestead.
  • A pen, coop, or similar shelter for small domestic animals, such as sheep or pigeons.
  • A small, crudely-formed boat.
  • A cover or sheath; a fingerstall.

Origin

  • Borrowed from Hindi खाट, from Sauraseni Prakrit 𑀔𑀝𑁆𑀝𑀸, from Sanskrit खट्वा ("bedstead").
  • From Middle English cot, cote, from Old English cot and cote, from Proto-Germanic *kutą, *kutǭ (compare Old Norse kot, Middle High German kūz ("execution pit")), from Scythian (compare Avestan 𐬐𐬀𐬙𐬀 ("chamber")). Cognate to Dutch kot ("student room; small homestead"). cote; more distantly related to cottage.
  • From Irish cot, coit, from Proto-Celtic *quontio, from Proto-Indo-European *póntoh₁s ("path, road"), related to Gaulish and Latin ponto. Compare the first element of catboat, which could be a borrowing.
  • From dialectal cot, cote, partly from Middle English cot, from Old English *cot, *cotta, from Proto-Germanic *kuttô; and partly from Middle English cot, cote, from Old French cote, from the same Germanic source (see English coat). Possibly influenced by English cotton.

Modern English dictionary

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