catch (English)
Where does "catch" come from?
The word catch traces its roots back to the Proto-Indo-European root *kap-, meaning "to seize" or "to grab." It evolved through Latin as captāre ("to strive to seize") into Old French and Anglo-Norman as chacier and cachier, eventually entering Middle English as cacchen. Interestingly, it is a linguistic doublet of "chase," sharing the same Latin ancestor while taking on a distinct meaning as it moved through history.
Full etymology tree
- catch (English), 'The act of seizing or capturing.'
- inherited cacchen (Middle English), 'to catch'
- borrowed cachier (Anglo-Norman)
- derived chacier (Old French), 'to hunt, to go hunting'
- derived captiāre (Latin), 'inflection of captiō:'
- derived captus (Latin), 'captured, having been captured, seized, having been seized, taken, having been taken'
- derived capiō (Latin), 'to take, to capture, to catch, to seize, to take captive, to storm'
- inherited *kapjō (Proto-Italic), 'to take, seize'
- inherited *kap- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to seize, to grab'
- inherited *kapjō (Proto-Italic), 'to take, seize'
- derived capiō (Latin), 'to take, to capture, to catch, to seize, to take captive, to storm'
- derived captus (Latin), 'captured, having been captured, seized, having been seized, taken, having been taken'
- derived captiāre (Latin), 'inflection of captiō:'
- derived chacier (Old French), 'to hunt, to go hunting'
- borrowed cachier (Anglo-Norman)
- influence lacchen (Middle English)
- inherited cacchen (Middle English), 'to catch'
Direct ancestors
- kap- (Proto-Indo-European)
- cacchen (Middle English)
- captio (Latin)
- capto (Latin)
- chasser (French)
- chacier (Old French)
- cazar (Spanish)
- chase (English)
Updated July 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris