Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to grasp."

It forms all or part of: accept; anticipate; anticipation; behave; behoof; behoove; cable; cacciatore; caitiff; capable; capacious; capacity; capias; capiche; capstan; caption; captious; captivate; captive; captor; capture; case (n.2) "receptacle;" catch; catchpoll; cater; chase (n.1) "a hunt;" chase (v.) "to run after, hunt;" chasse; chasseur; conceive; cop (v.) "to seize, catch;" copper (n.2) "policeman;" deceive; emancipate; except; forceps; gaffe; haft; have; hawk (n.); heave; heavy; heft; incapacity; inception; incipient; intercept; intussusception; manciple; municipal; occupy; participation; perceive; precept; prince; purchase; receive; recipe; recover; recuperate; sashay; susceptible.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit kapati "two handfuls;" Greek kaptein "to swallow, gulp down," kope "oar, handle;" Latin capax "able to hold much, broad," capistrum "halter," capere "to grasp, lay hold; be large enough for; comprehend;" Lettish kampiu "seize;" Old Irish cacht "servant-girl," literally "captive;" Welsh caeth "captive, slave;" Gothic haban "have, hold;" Old English hæft "handle," habban "to have, hold."

c. 1300, chacen "to hunt; to cause to go away; put to flight," from Old French chacier "to hunt, ride swiftly, strive for" (12c., Modern French chasser), from Vulgar Latin *captiare "try to seize, chase" (source of Italian cacciare, Catalan casar, Spanish cazar, Portuguese caçar "to chase, hunt"), from Latin captare "to take, hold," frequentative of capere "to take, hold" (from PIE root *kap- "to grasp"). The Old French word is a variant of cacier, cachier, making chase a doublet of catch (v.).

The meaning "run after" for any purpose is by mid-14c. Related: Chased; chasing. Ancient European words for "pursue" often also cover "persecute" (Greek diōkō, Old English ehtan), and in Middle English chase also meant "to persecute." Many modern "chase" words often derive from verbs used primarily for the hunting of animals.

1580s, of diseases, "communicating, infectious," present-participle adjective from catch (v.). From 1650s as "captivating." Related: Catchingly.

past tense and past participle of catch (v.), attested from 14c., predominant after c. 1800, replacing earlier catched. A rare instance of an English strong verb with a French origin. This might have been by influence of Middle English lacchen (see latch (v.)), which also then meant "to catch" and was more or less a synonym of catch (as their noun forms remain), and which then had past tense forms lahte, lauhte, laught. The influence would have happened before latch switched to its modern weak conjugation.

"act or practice of gaining favor by flattery," 1520s, from French captation, from Latin captationem (nominative captatio) "a reaching after, a catching at," noun of action from past-participle stem of captare "take hold" (see catch (v.)).

"able to be caught," 1690s, from catch (v.) + -able.

also catchall, "something used as a general receptacle for odds and ends," 1838, from catch (v.) + all.

"one who catches," in any sense, mid-14c., agent noun from catch (v.). Baseball sense is from 1867.

"drainage," 1844, from catch (v.) + -ment. A technical word in hydraulic engineering.

"something of little value but externally attractive and made to sell quickly," 1760, from catch (v.) + penny (n.). It will catch a penny. Also as an adjective.