Source etymology 1
Original entry ↗An animal kept as a companion or otherwise for pleasure, rather than for some practical benefit or use. · Something kept as a companion, including inanimate objects. · One who is excessively loyal to a superior and receives preferential treatment. · Any person or animal especially cherished and indulged; a darling.
Favourite; cherished; the focus of one's (usually positive) attention. · Kept or treated as a pet. · Good; ideal.
To stroke or fondle (an animal). · To stroke or fondle (another person) amorously. · To keep or treat (an animal) as a pet. · To treat (someone) as a pet; to fondle; to indulge.
Originally northern dialectal, from Scots pet (“an animal that has been tamed and is kept as a pet; a darling or favourite; a petted or spoiled child”), probably from Scottish Gaelic peata (“pet, tamed animal, spoiled child”), from Middle Irish petta, peta (“pet, lap-dog”), of uncertain origin, possibly from a pre-Indo-European substrate. Compare also peat (“pet, darling, woman”), which is likely not related. The verb is derived from the noun.
Relationships mentioned by the source
These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.
This page abbreviates 2 auxiliary source items. The etymology narrative is not shortened. Omission counts are available in the audit fields below; consult the original for complete auxiliary material.
Inspect preserved source fields
Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.
{
"templates": [
{
"name": "bor",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "sco",
"3": "pet",
"t": "an animal that has been tamed and is kept as a pet; a darling or favourite; a petted or spoiled child"
},
"expansion": "Scots pet (“an animal that has been tamed and is kept as a pet; a darling or favourite; a petted or spoiled child”)"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "gd",
"3": "peata",
"t": "pet, tamed animal, spoiled child"
},
"expansion": "Scottish Gaelic peata (“pet, tamed animal, spoiled child”)"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "mga",
"3": "petta"
},
"expansion": "Middle Irish petta"
},
{
"name": "unc",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"title": "uncertain"
},
"expansion": "uncertain"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "qfa-sub"
},
"expansion": "substrate"
}
],
"links": [
[
"pet",
"pet#Scots"
],
[
"peata",
"peata#Scottish_Gaelic"
],
[
"petta",
"petta#Middle_Irish"
],
[
"peta",
"peta#Middle_Irish"
],
[
"peat",
"peat#English"
]
],
"references": [],
"descendants": [],
"lexical": [
{
"pos": "noun",
"glosses": [
"An animal kept as a companion or otherwise for pleasure, rather than for some practical benefit or use.",
"Something kept as a companion, including inanimate objects.",
"One who is excessively loyal to a superior and receives preferential treatment.",
"Any person or animal especially cherished and indulged; a darling."
],
"tags": [
"broadly"
],
"recordId": "1d13296957ad53ebbd93a1201360f8f31da4edae9f7488e28e28b4d24d4950b8",
"rawRecordSha256": "2086179605588d749fd95a443d60726e34c90862e085d0ff2303e7a063dfdb0e",
"sourceRecordOrdinal": 43641
},
{
"pos": "adj",
"glosses": [
"Favourite; cherished; the focus of one's (usually positive) attention.",
"Kept or treated as a pet.",
"Good; ideal."
],
"tags": [
"figuratively",
"not-comparable",
"literally",
"obsolete"
],
"recordId": "7af07bf840c046d609f50dcbab07d5ac576ea4835af99216f9a2d2c5ce895383",
"rawRecordSha256": "beb8f07178e81e5e1322aedc1568e13bb2ac6fd7f4f8c3f268deca7638b0bb47",
"sourceRecordOrdinal": 43643
},
{
"pos": "verb",
"glosses": [
"To stroke or fondle (an animal).",
"To stroke or fondle (another person) amorously.",
"To keep or treat (an animal) as a pet.",
"To treat (someone) as a pet; to fondle; to indulge."
],
"tags": [
"transitive",
"informal",
"intransitive",
"dated"
],
"recordId": "d03a5ad227a4167161b71ea214db470236151e1f9315f6b5a41e91a63f09fcc0",
"rawRecordSha256": "56d5b6a6ae7b4aca97b31fb76d10cdce585fc0fc0e5acea013047e0c2dc686e3",
"sourceRecordOrdinal": 43642
}
],
"omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
"templates": 0,
"links": 0,
"references": 0,
"descendants": 0,
"lexicalRecords": 0,
"lexicalSenses": 2,
"glosses": 0
}
}