kettle
KET-uhl · noun
Origin
From Middle English ketel or chetel, from Old English ċietel ("kettle, cauldron"), possibly influenced in Middle English by Old Norse ketill, both tracing back to Proto-Germanic *katilaz. Some think this Germanic word was confused with or borrowed from Late Latin catīllus, a diminutive of Latin catinus ("deep bowl, vessel for cooking food"), though its origin remains uncertain.
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Journey
It seems to have named a cooking or boiling vessel from Old English onward. One notable modern twist: in Cockney rhyming slang, 'kettle and hob' became slang for 'fob,' as in a fob watch.
Related words
It's cognate with a whole family of European words for the same object: Dutch ketel, German Kessel, Swedish kittel, Finnish kattila, and Russian котёл (kotjól, "boiler, cauldron"), among others.