English
hackery
Hackery may come from English hackney ‘cheap carriage for hire’.
- English1500–presenthackney‘cheap carriage for hire’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1864hackery
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- English1500–presenthackney‘cheap carriage for hire’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1864hackery
Earliest quotation: 1864, The Regulations of the Bengal Code in Fo: “Hackeries and carriages, loaded and empty, 8 annas.”
The story
Variously derived from corruption of hackney (‘cheap carriage for hire’), from Hindi चक्र (cakra, “wheel”) under influence from -ery, and from Gujarati ચક્રો (cakro, “ox-cart, rickshaw”), the latter two both from Sanskrit चक्र (cakra, “wheel, disc, cycle”).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *kʷékʷlos ‘wheel’
cycle, wheel, cyclic, kike, cyclamen, 14 more
through Hindi चक्र ‘wheel’
Today it means
noun A two-wheeled oxcart used for transporting freight.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / English hackney / hackery