Etymograph

English

drill

Drill comes from Middle Dutch drillen ‘bore, move in a circle’.

  1. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500drillen1‘bore, move in a circle’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1859drill1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English drill
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1859, Thomas Macaulay: “He [Frederic the Great] drilled his people, as he…”.

Lineage

  1. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500drillenWiktionary, English drill‘bore, move in a circle’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1859drillWiktionary, English drill. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1859, Thomas Macaulay: “He [Frederic the Great] drilled his people, as he…”

Every English word from Middle Dutch drillen

Another origin of drill

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElīcium‘thread’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtrilix‘triple-threaded’
  3. Old High Germanc. 750–1050drilīh
  4. Middle High Germanc. 1050–1350drilich
  5. Germanc. 1650–presentDrillich‘denim, canvas, drill’
  6. Englishtodaydrill

Today it means

verb To create (a hole) by removing material with a drill (tool).

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “drill”. 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 / Middle Dutch drillen / drill

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