Pancake
late Middle English: from pan1 + cake.
wiktionary
From Middle English pancake, equivalent to pan + cake. The juggling sense is by analogy with a pancake being tossed in a pan.
Compare Saterland Frisian Ponkouke, Ponkuuke(“pancake”), West Frisian pankoek(“pancake”), Dutch pannenkoek(“pancake”), German Low German Pannkook(“pancake”), German Pfannkuchen(“pancake”).
etymonline
pancake (n.)
"flapjack, griddle-cake, thin cake of batter fried or baked in a pan," c. 1400, panne-cake (late 13c. as a surname), from pan (n.) + cake (n.); as symbol of flatness c. 1600 (Middle English had as plat a kake, early 15c.). Colloquial Pancake Tuesday for "Shrove Tuesday" is from the old custom of eating them then.
pancake (v.)
"to squeeze flat," 1879, from pancake (n.). Later, of aircraft, "to fall flat" (1911), with figurative extension. Related: Pancaked; pancaking.
