Other forms: colts
A colt is a young male horse. A yearling colt, the colt was sold, a promising colt.
In racing terms a colt is a male under five; a filly is the female equivalent, a mare an adult female and a stallion an adult male kept for breeding. Foal covers either sex in the first year. The word is also used of a young or inexperienced player in some sports — a colts team. Note coltish, meaning gangly and full of nervous energy, which is used of people and is affectionate.
1nouncoltA young male horse.
“The colt was sold at about eighteen months.”
colt is a young animal.
Old English colt comes from a Germanic root about something young and plump. The revolver is named after Samuel Colt and has nothing to do with horses, which is a coincidence people rarely notice.
Proto-Indo-European
*gelt- — something round, pregnant belly, child in the womb
Proto-Germanic
*kultaz — plump; stump; thick shape, bulb
Old English
colt
Middle English
colt
English, today
colt
Built from
From Middle English colt, from Old English colt, from Proto-Germanic kultaz (“plump; stump; thick shape, bulb”), from Proto-Indo-European gelt- (“something round, pregnant belly, child in the womb”), from gel- (“to ball up, amass”). Cognate with Faroese koltur (“colt, foal”) Norwegian kult (“treestump”), Swedish kult (“young boar, piglet, boy, lad”) / Swedish kulting (“piglet”). Related to child.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA