fitchew

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. polecat
name
  1. A surname originating as a patronymic.

Word forms

fitchew fitchews

Etymology

From Middle English fitchewes (mistaken as a plural), variant of Middle English fichouse, ficheux, from Old French fissiauls (plural) and fichau, fissel (“polecat”), from Middle Dutch vitsche, visse, fisse (“polecat”), ultimately (via a Northern French dialect) from Latin vissiō (“stench”). Compare French vison (“mink”).

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.