Etymograph

English

awk

Awk comes from Old Norse ǫfugr ‘turned the wrong way with the tail or back…’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₃ekʷ- ‘to see’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃ekʷ-1‘to see’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂époh₃kʷos1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*abuhaz1‘turned the wrong way, inverted’reconstructed
  4. Old Norsec. 800–1350ǫfugr1‘turned the wrong way with the tail or back foremost’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500awke1
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1567awk1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English awk
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1567, Arthur Golding: “the awk end of hir charmed rod”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃ekʷ-Wiktionary, English awk‘to see’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂époh₃kʷosWiktionary, English awkreconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*abuhazWiktionary, English awk‘turned the wrong way, inverted’reconstructed
  4. Old Norsec. 800–1350ǫfugrWiktionary, English awk‘turned the wrong way with the tail or back foremost’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500awkeWiktionary, English awk
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1567awkWiktionary, English awk. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1567, Arthur Golding: “the awk end of hir charmed rod”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₃ekʷ- ‘to see’

eye, anthropology, optics, oculus, ocular, ogle, inoculation, monocle, synoptic, inoculate, anthropoid, doily, 38 more

Today it means

adj Odd; out of order; perverse.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “awk”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₃ekʷ- / awk

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