Etymograph

English

pick

Pick comes from Middle English piken ‘to pick at’, from Proto-West Germanic *pikkōn ‘to peck, strike’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bew-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bew-1reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*pikkōną1‘to pick’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*pikkōn1‘to peck’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150*piccian1reconstructed
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500piken1‘to pick at’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1549pick1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English pick
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1549, Thomas Cranmer et al., London: […] Edowardi Whitchurche […]: “to keep my hands from picking and stealing”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bew-Wiktionary, English pickreconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*pikkōnąWiktionary, English pick‘to pick’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*pikkōnWiktionary, English pick‘to peck’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150*piccianWiktionary, English pickreconstructed
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pikenWiktionary, English pick‘to pick at’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1549pickWiktionary, English pick. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1549, Thomas Cranmer et al., London: […] Edowardi Whitchurche […]: “to keep my hands from picking and stealing”

The story

From Middle English piken, picken, pikken, from Old English *piccian, *pīcian (attested in pīcung (‘a pricking’)), and pīcan, pȳcan (‘to pick, prick, pluck’), both from Proto-West Germanic *pikkōn, from Proto-Germanic *pikkōną (‘to pick, peck, prick, knock’), from Proto-Indo-European *bew-, *bu- (‘to make a dull, hollow sound’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with pick, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *bew-

  • bill ← bille ← bille ← bulle ← bulla
  • bowl ← bowle ← boule ← bulla
  • pocket ← poket ← *pokō ← *puhô
  • pose ← ġeposu ← pos ← *pos ← *pusą
  • purse ← purs ← purs ← pusa ← *pusō
  • bulletin ← bullette ← bollettino ← bolletta ← bolla
  • buckle ← bokel ← boucle ← buccula ← bucca
  • pout ← *poute ← *pūte
  • pique ← piquer ← picquer ← piquer ← *pikkōn
  • bouillon ← bouillir ← bouillir ← boillir ← bullīre
  • bulla
  • pock ← pok ← poc ← *pokk ← *pukkaz

23 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

noun A tool used for digging; a pickaxe.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “pick”. 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 *bew- / pick