mouton (French)
Where does "mouton" come from?
The French word 'mouton' traces back to the Proto-Celtic word 'moltos,' which originally referred to a ram or a castrated wether. This term was absorbed by Vulgar Latin through the Gaulish word 'multon-' before evolving through Old and Middle French to describe the animal itself. While it primarily means sheep or mutton today, its meaning has expanded figuratively to describe followers of a crowd or even mundane items like dust bunnies.
Full etymology tree
- mouton (French), 'sheep (animal)'
- inherited from mouton (Middle French), 'sheep'
- inherited from mouton (Old French), 'sheep (animal)'
- inherited from moltō (Latin), 'wether'
- borrowed from *multon- (Gaulish), 'sheep'
- derived from *moltos (Proto-Celtic), 'ram, wether'
- derived from *melh₂- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to grind, to crush'
- derived from *moltos (Proto-Celtic), 'ram, wether'
- borrowed from *multon- (Gaulish), 'sheep'
- inherited from moltō (Latin), 'wether'
- inherited from mouton (Old French), 'sheep (animal)'
- inherited from mouton (Middle French), 'sheep'
Ancestors
- mouton (Middle French)
- mouton (Old French)
- molto (Latin)
- *multon- (Gaulish)
- *moltos (Proto-Celtic)
Descendants and derived words
- mouton (English)
- haricot de mouton (French)
- mouton à cinq pattes (French)
- mouton de Panurge (French)
- mouton noir (French)
- revenir à ses moutons (French)
- saute-mouton (French)
- motóa (Galician)
- mouton (Haitian Creole)
- mouton (Louisiana Creole)
- mouton (Seychellois Creole)
Updated March 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris