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mussel

MUSS-uhl · noun

LatinLate LatinProto-West GermanicOld EnglishMiddle EnglishEnglish

Origin

From Middle English muscle, from Old English muscle, from Proto-West Germanic *muskulā, from Late Latin muscula, from Latin mūsculus, meaning "little mouse."

Journey

The Latin word mūsculus described something small and mouse-like, and that same root traveled through Late Latin and West Germanic into Old and Middle English before settling as the name for the shellfish.

Related words

It's a doublet of muscle — both words descend from the same Latin mūsculus, "little mouse," a fitting image since a flexing muscle was once thought to resemble a mouse moving under the skin.

More words

From Late Latin

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