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jetty

/ˈd͡ʒɛti/ noun

Latin root: iectāre Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about jetty at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

  1. A protective structure of stone or concrete; extends from shore into the water to prevent a beach from washing away.

Origin

The noun is derived from Late Middle English gete, jette, jetti (“projecting upper storey of a building, overhang; breakwater, pier, jetty”), from Anglo-Norman geté, getee, getté, and Middle French geté, getee, jeté (“projecting upper storey of a building; breakwater, pier”) (modern French jetée), a noun use of the past participle of geter, jeter, from Old French geter, jeter (“to throw”) from Late Latin iectāre, the present active infinitive of iectō (“to throw”), probably from Latin iactō (“to cast, hurl, throw”), from iaciō (“to cast, hurl, throw”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(H)yeh₁- (“to throw”)) + -tō (frequentative suffix). Compare jet (“(obsolete) protruding part”), jutty.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)