English
ogle
Ogle may come from Low German ögeln ‘to ogle, to flirt with one's eyes’.
- Low Germanmodernögeln1‘to ogle, to flirt with one's eyes’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1693ogle1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English ogle
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, [The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The First Satyr: “And ogling all their audience, ere they speak.”.
Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Low GermanmodernögelnWiktionary, English ogle‘to ogle, to flirt with one's eyes’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1693ogleWiktionary, English ogle. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, [The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The First Satyr: “And ogling all their audience, ere they speak.”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₃ekʷ- ‘to see’
optics, anthropology, oculus, ocular, inoculation, synoptic, awk, inoculate, monocle, anthropoid, doily, 38 more
through Proto-Germanic *augô ‘eye’
Today it means
verb To stare at (someone or something), especially impertinently, amorously, or covetously.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “ogle”. 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 / Low German ögeln / ogle