Etymograph

English

vachette

Vachette comes from French vachette ‘young cow, calf’, and goes back to Latin vacca.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvacca1‘cow’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400vache1‘cow (bovine)’
  3. Frenchc. 1600–presentvache2‘cow (bovine)’
  4. Frenchc. 1600–presentvachette3‘young cow, calf’
  5. Englishtodayvachette3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, French vache
  2. 2 Wiktionary, French vachette
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English vachette

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvaccaWiktionary, French vache‘cow’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400vacheWiktionary, French vache‘cow (bovine)’
  3. Frenchc. 1600–presentvacheWiktionary, French vachette‘cow (bovine)’
  4. Frenchc. 1600–presentvachetteWiktionary, English vachette‘young cow, calf’
  5. EnglishtodayvachetteWiktionary, English vachette

Linked words

through Latin vacca ‘cow’

vaccine, bachelor, vaccination, 8 more

Today it means

noun A piece of strong steel wire with the ends curved and pointed, used on toe or quarter cracks to bind the edges together and prevent motion. It is clasped into two notches, one on each side of the crack, burned into the wall with a cautery iron.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “vachette”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for French vache, French vachette. 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 / Latin vacca / vachette

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