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newt

(nt, nyt)

Any of several small, often brightly colored, aquatic or semiaquatic salamanders of the family Salamandridae of North America and Eurasia that typically breed in water but spend part of their lives on land.

[Middle English neute, from a neute, alteration of an eute, variant of evete, from Old English efete.]

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newt

eastern newt

Notophthalmus viridescens

in red eft stage

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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