Etymograph

English

peat

Peat comes from Northern Middle English pete.

  1. Northern Middle Englishmodernpete1
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1958peat1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English peat
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1958, J. M. Dunn, The Afonwen Line—1: “On the return journey the engine ran short of…”.

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Northern Middle EnglishmodernpeteWiktionary, English peat
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1958peatWiktionary, English peat. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1958, J. M. Dunn, The Afonwen Line—1: “On the return journey the engine ran short of…”

The story

Inherited from Northern Middle English pete (recorded in Latin text as peta), of uncertain origin; perhaps from a Celtic language such as an unattested Pictish or Brythonic source, in turn possibly from Proto-Brythonic *peθ (‘portion, segment, piece’); if so, it would be a doublet of piece.uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Celtic *kʷezdis ‘piece, portion’

piece, patch, bijou

Today it means

noun Soil formed of dead but not fully decayed plants found in bog areas, often burned as fuel.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “peat”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Northern Middle English pete / peat

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