English
encroach
Encroach comes from Old French encrochier ‘to seize’, and goes back to croc ‘hook’.
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400croc1‘hook’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400encrochier1‘to seize’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500encrochen1
- Englishearliest quotation 1567encroach1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English encroach
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1567, George Turberville, The Louer Exhorteth His Ladie to Take Time, while Time is: “[D]rowſie drouping Age, / incroaching on apace, / With…”.
Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400crocWiktionary, English encroach‘hook’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400encrochierWiktionary, English encroach‘to seize’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500encrochenWiktionary, English encroach
- Englishearliest quotation 1567encroachWiktionary, English encroach. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1567, George Turberville, The Louer Exhorteth His Ladie to Take Time, while Time is: “[D]rowſie drouping Age, / incroaching on apace, / With…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *gerg- ‘tracery, basket, twist’
through Proto-Germanic *krōkaz ‘hook’
through Old Norse krókr ‘hook, bend, bight’
through Old French croc ‘hook’
Today it means
verb to seize, appropriate
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “encroach”. 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 / Old French croc / encroach