Etymograph

English

dock

Dock comes from Proto-West Germanic *dokkā ‘something round, ball’, from Proto-Germanic *dukkǭ ‘power, strength’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewgʰ- ‘to produce’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰewgʰ-1‘to produce’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*dukkǭ2‘power, strength’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*dokkā2‘something round, ball’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150docce2
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dokke2
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1590dock2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *dukkǭ
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English dock
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto IX: “And vnder neath him his courageous ſteed, / The…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰewgʰ-Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *dukkǭ‘to produce’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*dukkǭWiktionary, English dock‘power, strength’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*dokkāWiktionary, English dock‘something round, ball’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150docceWiktionary, English dock
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dokkeWiktionary, English dock
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1590dockWiktionary, English dock. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto IX: “And vnder neath him his courageous ſteed, / The…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dʰewgʰ- ‘to produce’

daughter, dow, doughty, 12 more

Another origin of dock

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰeu-k-‘to spin, shake’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*dukkǭ‘power, strength’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*dokkā‘something round, ball’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150*doccereconstructed
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dok‘trimmed hair, dock’
  6. Englishtodaydock

A dog with a partially docked (etymology 2, verb sense 1) tail The verb is from Middle English dokken (‘to cut short, dock, curtail’), derived from the noun.

Another origin of dock

  1. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500docke‘port, harbour’disputed
  2. Dutchc. 1500–presentdok‘dock, wharf’uncertain
  3. Englishtodaydock

From Early Modern English meaning "area of mud in which a ship can rest at low tide, dock", borrowed from either Dutch dok (‘dock, wharf’) or Middle Low German docke (‘dock, wharf’), both from Middle Dutch docke (‘port, harbour’), of uncertain origin.uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain. The original sense may have been "the furrow a grounded vessel makes in a mud bank". Some sources link this word to an unattested Middle Dutch *docke (‘watercourse, trench, canal’), which is a ghost word, only being inferred from Mediaeval Latin documents in the form of ducta, doctus, doccia (‘conduit, canal’). However, if this theory is correct, then it would relate the word to Italian doccia (‘drainpipe’), making dock a doublet of douche and duct.disputed Scholars disagree here; the competing view is quoted as the source gives it. An alternative theory ties Middle Dutch docke to a North Germanic or Scandinavian source, notably Old Norse dǫkk, dökð (‘depression in the landscape, pit, pool, trench’); compare Icelandic dökk, Norwegian dokk (‘hollow, low ground’), Swedish dank (‘marshy ground’).disputed Scholars disagree here; the competing view is quoted as the source gives it.

Today it means

noun Any of the genus Rumex of coarse weedy plants with small green flowers related to buckwheat, especially bitter dock (Rumex obtusifolius), and used as potherbs and in folk medicine, especially in curing nettle rash.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “dock”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Proto-Germanic *dukkǭ. 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 *dʰewgʰ- / dock

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