Etymograph

English

shoat

Shoat comes from Middle English schote.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500schote1
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1891shoat1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English shoat
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country: “Why, was not one animal of every kind –…”.

Earlier history not traced here. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500schoteWiktionary, English shoat
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1891shoatWiktionary, English shoat. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country: “Why, was not one animal of every kind –…”

The story

Perhaps a special use of Middle English schote (‘projectile, young shoot’), or perhaps of Middle Low German origin, cognate with West Flemish schote (‘young piglet’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Every English word from Middle English schote

Today it means

noun A weaned piglet; any piglet.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “shoat”. 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 / Middle English schote / shoat

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