late 14c. as a type of horse; agent noun from trot (v.). Meaning "foot of a quadruped" is from 1520s. Related: Trotters.
Entries linking to trotter
trot v.
"go at a quick, steady pace," late 14c., from Old French troter "to trot, to go," from Frankish *trotton (see trot (n.)). Italian trottare, Spanish trotar also are borrowed from Germanic. To trot (something) out originally (1838) was in reference to horses; figurative sense of "produce and display for admiration" is slang first recorded 1845. Related: Trotted; trotting.