Etymograph

English

turner

Turner comes from Middle English turner.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500turner1
  2. Englishearliest quotation 2016turner1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English turner
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2016, Robin Stevens, Murder Is Bad Manners: “Everyone kept turning around and craning their necks to…”.

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500turnerWiktionary, English turner
  2. Englishearliest quotation 2016turnerWiktionary, English turner. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2016, Robin Stevens, Murder Is Bad Manners: “Everyone kept turning around and craning their necks to…”

Formed from turn + -er

Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- ‘to rub, rub by turning, turn’

…

Latin tornō ‘to round off, turn in a lathe’

Proto-West Germanic *turnēn ‘to turn, lathe’

Old English turnian ‘to turn, rotate’

Middle English turnen ‘to turn’

English turn

Every English word from Middle English turner

Another origin of turner

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*terh₁-‘to rub, turn’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tórh₁nosreconstructed
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*tórnosreconstructed
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEτόρνοςtórnos‘a lathe’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtornus‘lathe’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtornō‘to turn, lathe’
  7. Old High Germanc. 750–1050turnēn
  8. Middle High Germanc. 1050–1350*turnenreconstructed
  9. Germanc. 1650–presentturnen‘to do gymnastics’
  10. Germanc. 1650–presentTurner‘gymnast’
  11. Englishtodayturner

Today it means

noun One who or that which turns.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “turner”. 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 / Middle English turner / turner

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