English
trout
Trout comes from Late Latin tructa ‘a kind of trout’, from Ancient Greek τρώκτης ‘nibbler’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- ‘to rub, to turn’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*terh₁-1‘to rub, to turn’uncertain
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEτρώγω1trṓgō‘to gnaw’uncertain
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEτρώκτης1trṓktēs‘nibbler’uncertain
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEtructa1‘a kind of trout’
- Old Englishc. 450–1150truht1
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500troute1
- Englishearliest quotation 1871trout1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English trout
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1871, James Grant, Under the Red Dragon: “God bless me! is it possible that you, a…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*terh₁-Wiktionary, English trout‘to rub, to turn’uncertain
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEτρώγωWiktionary, English trouttrṓgō‘to gnaw’uncertain
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEτρώκτηςWiktionary, English trouttrṓktēs‘nibbler’uncertain
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEtructaWiktionary, English trout‘a kind of trout’
- Old Englishc. 450–1150truhtWiktionary, English trout
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500trouteWiktionary, English trout
- Englishearliest quotation 1871troutWiktionary, English trout. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1871, James Grant, Under the Red Dragon: “God bless me! is it possible that you, a…”
The story
The Internet verb sense originated on BBSes of the 1980s, probably from Monty Python's The Fish-Slapping Dance (1972), though that sketch involved a halibut.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- ‘to rub, to turn’
turn, throw, thread, tournament, threshold, tragic, detrimental, thrash, tyrone, detriment, attrition, detour, tourney, termite, triage, tribulation, detritus, trite, tourniquet, thresher, thresh, truant, derma, tyro, 40 more
through Ancient Greek τρώγω ‘to gnaw’
Today it means
noun Any of several species of fish in Salmonidae, closely related to salmon, and distinguished by spawning more than once.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “trout”. 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 / Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- / trout