The word cartoon, in English, first appears in the 1670s, referring only to the heavy paper artists used for preliminary sketches (we’d call it poster board). The -oon ending is a common English adaptation of French and Italian words ending in -on and -one (eg, balloon, buffoon, macaroon). It’s rooted in the Italian cartone - which you also see in the modern word “carton” (as in packaging), likely via the French carton. The meaning of satirical political or social commentary doesn’t show up until 1843, but the general concept is vastly older - thousands of years older, in fact.
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