cudgel

From Middle English kuggel, from Old English cyċġel (“a large stick, cudgel”), from Proto-West Germanic kuggil, from Proto-Germanic kuggilaz (“a knobbed instrument”), derivative of Proto-Germanic kuggǭ (“cog, swelling”), from Proto-Indo-European gewgʰ- (“swelling, bow”), from Proto-Indo-European *gew- (“to bow, bend, arch, curve”), equivalent to cog + -el (diminutive suffix). Cognate with Middle Dutch coghele (“a stick with a rounded end”).