- fox
- O.E. fox, from W.Gmc. *fukhs (cf. O.H.G. fuhs, O.N. foa, Goth. fauho), from P.Gmc. base *fuh-, corresponding to PIE *puk- "tail" (cf. Skt. puccha- "tail"). The bushy tail is also the source of words for "fox" in Welsh (llwynog, from llwyn "bush"); Sp. (raposa, from rabo "tail"); Lith. (uodegis "fox," from uodega "tail"). Metaphoric extension to "clever person" is pre-1250. The verb is from 1567. Meaning "sexually attractive woman" is from 1940s; but foxy in this sense is recorded from 1895. Foxed in booksellers' catalogues means "stained with fox-colored marks." Fox-trot (dance) 1915, on notion of a fox's short steps. Foxhole is from O.E. foxhol in the literal sense; the meaning "a soldier's protective hole" is from 1919. Foxglove is O.E. foxes glofa, but the connection is obscure.
- Fox
- Algonquian people, transl. Fr. renards, which itself may be a transl. of an Iroquoian term meaning "red fox people." Their name for themselves is /meškwahki:-haki/ "red earths."