A Tad Puzzling

[Birchy]

Why do Americans call tadpoles pollywogs?

[boatman]

Pollywog (or polliwog) derives from polwygle, a Middle English alternative term for tadpole. Pole and polly are both derived from an archaic word, poll, for the head (it still survives in poll [as in Mori] and pollard [taking the top off a tree], for example); wog/wygle = to wiggle; tad = toad.