English
strapper
From strap + -er, principally strap + -er (agent noun suffix).
Formed from strap + -er
Ancient Greek στρέφω ‘to twist’
Ancient Greek στρόφος ‘rope’
Latin stroppus
Old English strop ‘a band, thong, strap’
Middle English strope
English strap
The story
The sense referring to a poorly producing milk cow (from strap + -er) came from a dialectal sense of the verb strap as a troponym of milk: not even the most skilful milking action could coax enough milk from the udder.
Today it means
noun A large, strong, robust person (usually a man).
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “strapper”. 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 / strapper