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Etymology and origin of the English word bot

English has two main words spelled bot: the larva of the botfly, a word of uncertain origin, and a shortening of robot.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

bot1 larva

Confidence
Uncertain
First attested
c. 1465, a treatise on the care of horses

Etymology

The larva is of uncertain origin.[2][5] The AHD, the Oxford Dictionary of English and Collins think it probably came from Low German,[1][6][7] and the Shorter Oxford and Dictionary.com compare Dutch bot and West Frisian botten (plural), adding that its further origin is obscure.[3][8] Merriam-Webster suggests instead an alteration of Scottish Gaelic boiteag (“maggot”).[9] Weekley compared Old English budda (“beetle, weevil”),[10] while the OED finds a link with bite unlikely on phonological grounds.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A parasitic worm or maggot, especially one infesting horses, in a treatise on the care of horses of about 1465;[2] Merriam-Webster also dates it to the 15th century,[9] while Etymonline gives the 1520s and the Shorter Oxford the early 16th century.[11][3]

Semantic evolution

From 1513, in Skelton, a person or thing could be called a bot as a parasite or pest.[2] From 1584 to 1869 the plural was used in curses and exclamations of annoyance such as "a bots on him", like the similar curses with pox.[2][12] In Scotland from 1718 the bots meant colic or a bowel complaint.[2] The parasite sense gave Australian and New Zealand slang a word for a habitual borrower or scrounger (1916),[2][13] which gave the verb to bot, to cadge (1921), with bot on, to impose on someone (1930).[2][3] In New Zealand from 1937 the bot was a germ and later any minor illness, such as a cold.[2][7] In Lancashire, Cheshire, Derbyshire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire and Cornwall dialect, gardeners called any grub that lives underground a bot.[14]

Timeline

  • c. 1465 – a parasitic worm or maggot.[2]
  • 1513 – a person seen as a parasite or pest (Skelton).[2]
  • 1584 – in curses such as "a bots on —" (until 1869).[2][12]
  • 1718 – the bots, colic (Scottish).[2]
  • 1916 – a cadger or scrounger (Australia and New Zealand).[2][13]
  • 1921 – the verb, to cadge.[2]
  • 1937 – a germ or minor illness (New Zealand).[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The larva of a botfly, which lives as a parasite inside horses, sheep and other animals.
  2. (in the plural, with the) A disease of livestock caused by these larvae.
  3. (Australia, New Zealand, informal) A person who habitually borrows or cadges; a scrounger.
  4. (New Zealand, informal) A mild illness, such as a cold.

Verb

  1. (Australia, New Zealand, informal) To cadge or scrounge something; with on, to impose on someone.

Word family

  • botfly

bot2 robot

Confidence
Established
Formation
Clipping
First attested
1969, Amazing Stories

Etymology

The automated sense is a shortening of robot,[2][1][3][9] first used in science fiction;[2] the OED compares the slightly earlier combining form -bot.[2] Etymonline notes that the modern word only happens to resemble the older ones, and that making new slang by cutting off the front of a word is neither old nor common in English.[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

A robot, 1969, in a science-fiction story in Amazing Stories.[2][9]

Semantic evolution

Dictionary.com dates the word to the late 1980s.[8] From 1990, first in a Usenet group about online multi-user games, it named an automated program on a computer network, often one that imitates a human user;[2] the Shorter Oxford describes it as an autonomous program on the Internet, especially one that acts like a player in an adventure game.[3] Etymonline dates the internet sense to about 2000.[11]

Timeline

  • 1969 – a robot (science fiction).[2][9]
  • 1985–90 – Dictionary.com's date for the word.[8]
  • 1990 – an automated program on a network.[2]
  • c. 2000 – Etymonline's date for the internet sense.[11]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A robot.
  2. (computing) A program that carries out automated tasks on a network, especially one that imitates a human user, for example in a chat or an online game.

Word family

  • botnet

Usage notes

Two shorter slang words are also spelled bot: a nursery and jocular word for the buttocks, a shortening of bottom first recorded in Joyce's Ulysses (1922),[2][3][13] and a shortening of bottle, recorded from 1736, at first as a written abbreviation,[2] and in American slang from 1895.[13]

References

  1. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  8. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  9. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  11. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  12. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  13. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  14. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
Cite this entry

“Bot.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/bot. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

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