Etymo

coach

A person who trains a team; also a passenger vehicle.

Played on · Day 47 · word 2 of 5

The village behind the trainer

How coach reached English

oldest first

Simplified path. The puzzle showed the main steps; the full route is being checked.

  1. Hungarian

    kocsi (szekér)

    ‘A wagon from Kocs’

  2. German

    Kutsche

    ‘A carriage’

  3. French

    coche

    ‘A carriage’

  4. English

    coach

    ‘A large carriage; also a trainer or tutor’

The story of coach

Hungarian kocsi referred to a wagon from Kocs. German and French carried the vehicle name toward English. The later tutor sense used the idea of carrying a learner through an exam.

The display selects the shared borrowing route and does not score the period label of earlier English coche. Sources give different German spellings; these are not separate chronological steps.

Source

Merriam-Webster: coach

Word History supplies the borrowing route and Hungarian place-name connection.

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