## Meanings
1. The foot of an animal such as a dog, cat, or bear, that has claws.
2. To touch or scrape something repeatedly with a paw.
3. To touch someone roughly or in an unwanted, often sexual, way.

## Examples
- The cat licked its paw clean.
- The dog pawed at the door to be let outside.
- She pushed him away when he tried to paw her.

## Derived Forms
- bear's-paw
- bearspaw
- catpaw
- facepaw
- footpaw
- forepaw
- grandpaw
- northpaw
- pawdicure
- pawer
- pawful
- pawgun

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: pawe
- Root: poue
- Root: *pauta
- Root: *pōta
- Root: *pōtōn
- Root: *putōną

## Etymology
From Middle English pawe, from Old French poue, poe, from Vulgar Latin *pauta. Further origin unknown, perhaps from Frankish *pōta, from Frankish *pōtōn (“to put, stick, plant”), from Proto-Germanic *putōną, whence also Old English potian (“to push”), pȳtan (“to put out, poke out”). See more at put. Doublet of pote, put, and putt. Cognate with Dutch poot, poten (“to plant”), Low German Pote, German Pfote, Icelandic pota (“to stick”).

## AI Etymology
Paw comes from Middle English pawe, from Old French poue, poe, from Vulgar Latin *pauta. Further origin unknown, perhaps from Frankish *pōta, from Frankish *pōtōn (“to put, stick, plant”), from Proto-Germanic *putōną, whence also Old English potian (“to push”), pȳtan (“to put out, poke out”). See Doublet of pote, put, and putt. Cognate with Dutch poot, poten (“to plant”), Low German Pote, German Pfote, Icelandic pota (“to stick”). Modern senses include the foot of an animal such as a dog, cat, or bear, that has claws and to touch or scrape something repeatedly with a paw. The wider word family includes derivatives such as bear's-paw, bearspaw, catpaw, facepaw, footpaw, and forepaw.

## Topics
- Animals

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paw

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