chevrotain

Origin

Borrowed from French chevrotain, chevrotin (“ruminant of the family Tragulidae”), the diminutive of Old French chevrot (“young goat, kid”), itself a diminutive of chievre (“goat”) (modern French chèvre (“she-goat”)) + -ot (diminutive suffix). Chievre is derived from Latin capra (“she-goat”), from caper (“billy goat, he-goat”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kápros (“billy goat, he-goat”)) + -a (suffix forming feminine counterparts of masculine nouns).