Fetch

How to spell fetch

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce fetch

What does fetch mean?

1. verbTo go to where something is, collect it, and bring it back.
2. verbTo bring in or sell for a particular amount of money.

Fetch in a sentence

• Please fetch my coat from the back room.

• The antique clock should fetch a high price at auction.

• The dog will fetch the ball every time you throw it.

• Used cars in good condition still fetch decent money.

Where does fetch come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The word descends from the Old English verb fetian, also recorded as feccan, which meant 'to bring near' or 'to go and get'. This was a native Germanic word, related to forms in older Germanic languages tied to the idea of grasping or taking hold of something. Over the centuries the spelling settled on the -tch ending, the regular English way of writing the /ch/ sound after a short vowel, as in 'catch', 'match', and 'patch'. Alongside the core sense of going to collect something and bringing it back, English developed the commercial use 'to bring in' a price at sale by the 1600s. The word has stayed plain and everyday throughout its history, never borrowing the dressier Latin or French alternatives.

How the word is built

• fetch (single root, from Old English fetian/feccan: to bring near); the -tch spelling marks the short vowel before the /ch/ sound