roly-poly

‘a short, plump person or thing’

Lexical development traced from the Tamil root:

    E. rowle-powle, roley-poley, rowley-powley, rowlie-powlie < (probably a varied reduplication of ) the verb roll) < O.F. roeller ‘roll, wheel round’ < Med.Lat. rotulare < Lat. rotula < rota ‘wheel’ + -poly < roli < ret- < Tamil uruḷ

English words derived from Tamil uruḷ connoting ‘roll’