rabbit English · revision 10288

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1398}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈɹæbət/; /ˈɹæbɪt/ ''(UK)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English rabet, rabbete, probably from a dialectal French source, compare modern French dialect rabotte, young rabbit, and Walloon robète,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) a diminutive of Flemish or Middle Dutch robbe, rabbit, which is of unknown or uncertain origin.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) Liberman calls it a Germanic noun with a French suffix:^(Liberman 2008)^(Etymonline) Germanic makes wide use of the root r-b in naming animals, as German Robbe, seal, and Flemish rabbe, robbe, rabbit, and the Walloon word need not be the source.^(Liberman 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The young of the coney: before 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ At first the word meant the young animal only; the adult was called a [[coney]] until the 18th century.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) Rabbits were brought to Britain by the Normans in the 12th century for meat and fur.^(Cresswell 2021) Middle English rabet was a word mainly of French cuisine.^(Liberman 2008) Pulling a rabbit out of a hat as a conjuring trick is recorded by 1843,^(Etymonline) the ''rabbit's foot'' as a good-luck charm by 1879,^(Etymonline) and the ''rabbit punch'' to the back of the neck from 1915.^(Etymonline) ''Rabbits'' or ''white rabbits'', said for luck on the first day of the month, is from 1920.^(OED 1989) In British informal use, a poor player at a game is a rabbit,^(Collins 2023) and to rabbit on, to chatter, is from the rhyming slang ''rabbit and pork'', talk.^(MWU 2024)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1398 – a young rabbit.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1843 – a rabbit out of a hat.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1879 – rabbit's foot.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1915 – rabbit punch.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1920 – white rabbits.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Any of various long-eared, short-tailed burrowing mammals of the family Leporidae.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The fur of a rabbit or hare.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A runner who sets a fast pace for others in a race.^(AHD)

+ # ''(British, informal)'' A poor performer at a game or sport.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To hunt rabbits.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(British, informal, often with on)'' To talk at length about trivial things.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[rabbiter]]

+ * [[rabbity]]

+ * [[rabbitlike]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[coney]]

+ * [[hare]]

+ * [[bunny]]

+ * [[rarebit]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Mencken notes that the word is rarely heard in American speech and is mostly applied to the so-called Belgian hare, which is in fact a rabbit.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}