Etymograph

English

softneck

soft + neck

A compound of soft + neck

Proto-West Germanic *samft(ī) ‘level’

Old English sōfte

Middle English softe ‘soft’

English soft

Proto-Germanic *hnakkô ‘nape’

Proto-West Germanic *hnakkō ‘nape’

Old English hnecca ‘back of the neck’

Middle English nekke ‘the neck’

English neck

Today it means

noun Any of the varieties of garlic that lack a stiff central stem or scape.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “softneck”. 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 / softneck

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