Etymology: < Middle French pet (c1179 in Old French; French pet) < classical Latin pēditum, use as noun of neuter of pēditus, past participle of pēdere to break wind ( < the same Indo-European base as Lithuanian bezdū, ancient Greek βδεῖν, apparently ultimately an imitative formation representing the sound of breaking wind). Compare post-classical Latin pettum (c1227, 1331 in British sources), Old Occitan, Occitan pet, Catalan pet (14th cent.), Spanish pedo (c1400), Italian peto (13th cent.).It is uncertain whether quot. a1625 shows the same word.

Etymology: < Scottish Gaelic peata tame animal, now also ‘spoilt child’ (Early Irish petta , Irish peata tame animal, occasionally referring to spoilt humans), probably ultimately < an extended form (-t- extension) of the Indo-European base of classical Latin suēscere to become used to (see mansuete adj.).The Scottish Gaelic and Irish noun is also used preceding a noun in the genitive to specify the kind of pet, e.g. Early Irish petta eoin a pet bird, literally ‘a pet of a bird’. This may underlie the uses as adjective in English. Probably not related to peat n.², although see discussion at that entry.

Etymology: Origin unknown. Compare the apparent derivative pettish adj., which is first attested earlier.Perhaps related to pet n.², in which case pettish adj. may have been formed originally from pet n.² 2; however, a strong argument against is presented by the early geographical distribution of the words, pet n.² being in early use distinctively Scots and northern English, whereas the present word is found also in the south from its earliest attestations onwards, and pettish adj. is apparently not found in Older Scots. For a suggestion of an etymology from a spec. sense of French pet pet n.¹ see L. Spitzer in Language 26 (1950) 533–8.

Etymology: < pet n.²

Etymology: < pet n.³