gargoyle
GAHR-goyl · noun
LatinOld FrenchEnglish
Origin
From Old French gargouille, itself from Latin, with the earliest recorded French spelling, gargoule, dated to 1294.
Journey
The facts on hand don't trace a documented shift in meaning — only the path from Latin into Old French gargouille and then into English.
Related words
Gargoyle is a doublet of gargle, meaning the two words descend from the same root but arrived in English by different routes.
More words
Nearby, A–Z