Etymograph

English

stroke

Stroke comes from Middle English strok ‘blow from a weapon, cut’, from Proto-West Germanic *straik ‘stroke, line, dash’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *streyg-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*streyg-1‘to rub, stroke’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*straikaz1reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*straik1‘stroke, line, dash’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150strāc1
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500strok1‘blow from a weapon, cut’
  6. Englishearliest quotation a. 1530stroke1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English stroke
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: a. 1530, John Skelton, Magnyfycence, a Goodly Interlude and a Mery, […]: “The stroke of God, Aduersyte I hyght; / I…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*streyg-Wiktionary, English stroke‘to rub, stroke’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*straikazWiktionary, English strokereconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*straikWiktionary, English stroke‘stroke, line, dash’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150strācWiktionary, English stroke
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500strokWiktionary, English stroke‘blow from a weapon, cut’
  6. Englishearliest quotation a. 1530strokeWiktionary, English stroke. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: a. 1530, John Skelton, Magnyfycence, a Goodly Interlude and a Mery, […]: “The stroke of God, Aduersyte I hyght; / I…”

The story

The noun is derived from Middle English strok, stroke (‘blow from a weapon, cut’), from Old English strāc, from Proto-West Germanic *straik, from Proto-Germanic *straikaz (‘stroke’), from Proto-Indo-European *streyg- (‘to rub, stroke; to shear; to strike’). Sense 3.5.2.2 (‘the oblique, slash, or virgule (‘/’)’) is a contraction of oblique stroke, a variant of oblique which was originally used in telegraphy.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *streyg- ‘to rub, stroke’

strike, streak, distress, restraint, stringent, stricken, stricture, 7 more

Another origin of stroke

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*streyg-reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*straikazreconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*straikreconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*straikōn‘to caress, stroke’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150strācian‘to stroke’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500stroken‘to stroke a human’
  7. Englishtodaystroke

The verb is derived from Middle English stroken, straken (‘to caress, fondle, pat, rub, smooth, stroke; to pass something over (someone or something); to brush or rub against;’) [and other forms], from Old English strācian (‘to stroke’), from Proto-West Germanic *straikōn (‘to caress, stroke’), from *straik (‘a line, stroke; a dash’) (see further at etymology 1) + *-ōn (suffix forming verbs from nouns). The noun is derived from the verb.

Today it means

noun An act of hitting; a blow, a hit.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “stroke”. 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 *streyg- / stroke

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