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oc·e·lot

(ŏsə-lŏt′, ōsə-)

A nocturnal wildcat (Leopardus pardalis) of brush and woodland from southwest North America to central South America, having a grayish or yellow coat with black spots.

[French, name for the animal introduced in 1765 by Georges Louis Leclerc de Buffon as an abbreviation of and Nahuatl tlālocēlōtl, ocelot (perhaps literally “field jaguar”) : tlāl-, stem of tlālli, earth, land, field + ocēlōtl, jaguar, ocelot (of unknown origin).]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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