Etymograph

English

picket

Picket comes from French piquet ‘stake, picket’, from piquer ‘to pierce’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bew-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bew-1uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*pikōną1uncertain
  3. Frankishc. 250–700*pikkōn1uncertain
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400piquer1‘to pierce with the tip of a sword’uncertain
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600picquer1‘to sting’
  6. Frenchc. 1600–presentpiquer2‘to pierce’
  7. Frenchc. 1600–presentpiquet2‘stake, picket’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1729picket2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, French piquer
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English picket
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1729, John Braithwaite, The History of the Revolutions in the Empire of Morocco: “[T]he Moors kept a good Guard all Night, and…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bew-Wiktionary, French piqueruncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*pikōnąWiktionary, French piqueruncertain
  3. Frankishc. 250–700*pikkōnWiktionary, French piqueruncertain
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400piquerWiktionary, French piquer‘to pierce with the tip of a sword’uncertain
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600picquerWiktionary, French piquer‘to sting’
  6. Frenchc. 1600–presentpiquerWiktionary, English picket‘to pierce’
  7. Frenchc. 1600–presentpiquetWiktionary, English picket‘stake, picket’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1729picketWiktionary, English picket. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1729, John Braithwaite, The History of the Revolutions in the Empire of Morocco: “[T]he Moors kept a good Guard all Night, and…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bew-

bill, bowl, pose, purse, pocket, bulletin, buckle, pout, bouillon, bulla, pock, 16 more

through Frankish *pikkōn

piquant, 5 more

through French piquer ‘to pierce’

pique, picot, 5 more

through French piquet ‘stake, picket’

piquet

Today it means

noun A stake driven into the ground.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “picket”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for French piquer. 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- / picket

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