trot

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English trotten,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French troter (“to trot, to go”),^[5][3][2][6] recorded in Old French from the 12th century and now trotter.^[5][7] The Anglo-Norman verb is recorded from the second quarter of the 12th century.^[8] The French word goes back through Vulgar Latin *trottō (“to trot”) to Frankish *trottōn,^[9][3] from Proto-Germanic *trott-, a derivative of the base of tread.^[3][9][7] Its cognates include Old High German trottōn (“to tread”) and Middle High German trotten (“to run”).^[2][6][4] trottare and trotar were also borrowed from Germanic,^[3] and a Medieval Latin trottare appears about 1150.^[5] The noun is inherited from Middle English trot, borrowed from Old French trot, the verbal noun of the French verb.^[5][2][7] Weekley argued from the surname Trotter that the English verb must be older than the dictionary records,^[10] and Etymonline notes the word as a surname from the late 12th century.^[3] Skeat followed Diez, Scheler and Littré in deriving the French word from Latin, a view since abandoned.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a horse, to go at a trot: 1362, in Langland's Piers Plowman.^[5][2] The noun, the gait itself, is first recorded about 1386 in Chaucer's Canon's Yeoman's Tale in the OED,^[5] but Barnhart finds it before 1325 in the Cursor Mundi,^[2] and Etymonline dates it to about 1300.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From the gait of horses the verb was used of riders and vehicles (about 1386, in Chaucer), and then, from about 1416 in Hoccleve, of people going briskly or busily; this is now colloquial and suggests short quick steps.^[5] The transitive use, to make a horse trot, is recorded from 1592,^[5] and trot out, to lead out a horse to show its paces, from 1838; figuratively it came to mean bringing forward a person or opinion for inspection or admiration,^[5][3] and, chiefly with out, drawing someone out in conversation to make game of him (1818).^[5] The noun gained the sense on the trot, continually on the go, and later in succession (from about 1640),^[5] the trots, diarrhoea (1808), a trotting race (1856) and, in college slang in the United States, a literal translation used as a crib (1891).^[5][3][12] Ayto notes that trot for diarrhoea was at first singular and has been plural since at least the early 20th century.^[9] A toddling child was a trot from 1854, in Thackeray's The Newcomes.^[5][12] In Westmorland, Yorkshire and Scotland the verb also meant simply to hurry.^[13]

Timeline

• 1362 – verb, of a horse, to go at a trot.^[5][2]
• c. 1386 – of a rider or vehicle; noun, the gait between walking and running.^[5] Barnhart finds the noun before 1325.^[2]
• c. 1416 – to go or move briskly, to bustle.^[5]
• 1592 – to make a horse trot.^[5]
• c. 1640 – on the trot, continually moving.^[5]
• 1808 – the trots, diarrhoea.^[5][3]
• 1838 – trot out, to lead out a horse to show its paces; figuratively by 1845.^[5][3]
• 1854 – a toddling child.^[5][12]
• 1856 – a trotting race.^[5]
• 1891 – in American student slang, a literal translation used as a crib.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A moderately fast gait of a horse or other four-footed animal, in which the legs move in diagonal pairs.^[6][14][5]
2. A pace of a person between a walk and a run; a jog.^[6][14]
3. A brisk walk or run, or a period of busy activity.^[6][14]
4. the trots (informal): diarrhoea.^[14][5]
5. (chiefly Australia and New Zealand) the trots: a meeting for trotting races.^[14][5]
6. on the trot (informal): one after another, in succession; also, constantly busy.^[14][5]
7. (US, informal) A literal translation of a text used by students; a crib or pony.^[6][5][12]

Verb

1. Of a horse or rider, to move at a trot: The pony trotted across the paddock.^[6][14][5]
2. To go or move briskly; to hurry along: The little boy trotted after his sister.^[6][5]
3. To make a horse trot, or to cover ground by trotting.^[6][14][5]
4. trot out (informal): to bring forward or repeat something, often a familiar excuse or story, for display or approval.^[14][5][3]

Word family

• dogtrot
• foxtrot
• trotter
• globetrot
• outtrot
• untrotted

Related words

• tread
• jogtrot
• globetrotter

Usage notes

Several other words are spelled trot.^[5][15] Trot for an old woman, usually disparaging and often in old trot, is recorded from before 1375 and is of uncertain origin;^[5][15] Liberman thinks it originally meant "gadabout" and compares Middle High German trute (“female monster”) and German Drude (“sorceress, incubus”).^[16] Trot for a Trotskyist (1962) is a clipping of Trotskyist,^[5][15] and the fishing trot (1858), a long baited line, may be a different word, in American use short for trotline.^[5][6]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ 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 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
13. ^ 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)
14. ^ a b c d e f g h i Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
15. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
16. ^ Liberman, Anatoly (2008), An Analytic Dictionary of English Etymology: An Introduction, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press