*SET-U

English word origin

Etymology of Court

* As an English and French surname, from the noun court. Also from the French adjective court (“short”). * As an Irish surname, reduced from McCourt.

1 source sectionExtended source reportWiktionary original ↗
In this entry · 1 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Unnumbered source etymology

Original entry ↗
name

A surname from Middle English for someone who worked or lived in a court. · Nickname for someone named Courtney. · A municipality in Bern canton, Switzerland.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

* As an English and French surname, from the noun court. Also from the French adjective court (“short”). * As an Irish surname, reduced from McCourt.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

{
  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fr",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "French"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ga",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Irish"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "court",
      "court#English"
    ],
    [
      "court",
      "court#French"
    ],
    [
      "McCourt",
      "McCourt#English"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "name",
      "glosses": [
        "A surname from Middle English for someone who worked or lived in a court.",
        "Nickname for someone named Courtney.",
        "A municipality in Bern canton, Switzerland."
      ],
      "tags": [],
      "recordId": "53db0ef9ea12a1b075e2233d82e85ab3b4c2d0bb8c27d3484153f6e0c8a8f906",
      "rawRecordSha256": "a830a3d5d4b0c43b473de1a3e13c57b5679064903e9f54802e728626afecac7a",
      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 324705
    }
  ],
  "omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
    "templates": 0,
    "links": 0,
    "references": 0,
    "descendants": 0,
    "lexicalRecords": 0,
    "lexicalSenses": 0,
    "glosses": 0
  }
}

Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for Court →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source provenance
Source SHA-256
5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run
73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID
w-Q291cnQ