Origin and history of prat

Old English 1st and 3rd person singular present indicative of cunnan "to know," less commonly as an auxiliary, "have power to, to be able," (also "have carnal knowledge"), from Proto-Germanic *kunnjanan "be mentally able, have learned" (source also of Old Norse kenna "become acqu

"buttocks," 1931, perhaps transferred from the same word in an underworld meaning "safe, strongbox" (1914), earlier "a burglar's toolkit that can be locked" (1881); probably from British dialect kist (northern form of chest (n.)) or its German cognate Kiste "chest, box." The conn

1530s, "later in time," from Latin posterior "after, later, behind," comparative of posterus "coming after, subsequent," from post "after" (see post-). Meaning "situated behind, later in position than another or others" is from 1630s. Related: Posterial...."buttocks, the hinder p

Middle English bodi, from Old English bodig "trunk of a man or beast; the whole physical structure of a human or animal; material frame, material existence of a human; main or principal part of anything," related to Old High German botah, but otherwise of unknown origin. Not else

Middle English seren, from Old English searian (intransitive), of plants, "dry up, to wither, become shriveled" (a sense now rare or obsolete), from Proto-Germanic *saurajan (source also of Middle Dutch soor "dry," Old High German soren "become dry"), from root of sear "dried up,

late 14c., "remove by scraping, rub, erase," especially "to remove writing by scruaping it out," from Old French raser "to scrape, shave," from Medieval Latin rasare, frequentative of Latin radere (past participle rasus) "to scrape, shave" (see raze (v.)). Meaning "level to the g

"buttocks," 1920, American English, from earlier British meaning "vulva" (1879), perhaps from the name of John Cleland's heroine in the scandalous novel "Fanny Hill or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure" (1748). The fem. proper name is a diminutive of Frances. The genital sense is st

"hind-quarters, back-end, or buttocks of an animal," the part to which the tail is attached, mid-15c., from a Scandinavian source (compare Danish, Norwegian rumpe, Swedish rumpa), from or corresponding to Middle Dutch romp, German Rumpf "trunk, torso." Specifically of this part u

[hindmost part of an animal] Old English tægl, tægel "posterior extremity," from Proto-Germanic *tagla- (source also of Old High German zagal, German Zagel "tail," dialectal German Zagel "penis," Old Norse tagl "horse's tail," Gothic tagl "hair"), according to Watkins from PIE *d

Old English behindan "at the back of, after," from bi "by" (see by) + hindan "from behind" (see hind (adj.)). The prepositional sense emerged in Old English. The figurative sense of "not so far advanced, not on equality with" is from c. 1200. The euphemistic noun meaning "backsid