Etymograph

English

awk

Awk comes from Old Norse ǫfugr ‘turned the wrong way with the tail or back…’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₃ekʷ- ‘to see’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃ekʷ-‘to see’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂époh₃kʷosreconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*abuhaz‘turned the wrong way, inverted’reconstructed
  4. Old Norsec. 800–1350ǫfugr‘turned the wrong way with the tail or back foremost’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500awke
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1567awk

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃ekʷ-‘to see’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂époh₃kʷosreconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*abuhaz‘turned the wrong way, inverted’reconstructed
  4. Old Norsec. 800–1350ǫfugr‘turned the wrong way with the tail or back foremost’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500awke
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1567awk

Earliest quotation: 1567, Arthur Golding: “the awk end of hir charmed rod”.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₃ekʷ- ‘to see’

eye, anthropology, optics, oculus, ocular, ogle, inoculation, monocle, synoptic, inoculate, anthropoid, doily, 38 more

Today it means

adj Odd; out of order; perverse.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₃ekʷ- / awk

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