tadpoles | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

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mid-15c., from tadde "toad" (see toad) + pol "head" (see poll (n.)). Also pol-head (mid 13c.).

1877, "young or small child," probably a shortened form of tadpole, which is said to be the source of Tad as the nickname of U.S. President Lincoln's son Thomas (1853–1871). The extended meaning "small amount" is first recorded 1915.

polliwog (n.)

"tadpole," mid-15c., polwygle, probably from pol "head" (see poll (n.)) + wiglen "to wiggle" (see wiggle (v.)). Modern spelling is 1830s, replacing earlier polwigge.

Bufo (n.)

toad genus, from Latin bufo "a toad," an Osco-Umbrian loan-word, perhaps from PIE *gwebh-, a root denoting sliminess and also forming words for "frog" (source also of Old Prussian gabawo "toad," Old Church Slavonic žaba "frog," Middle Low German kwappe "tadpole," German Quappe).

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