Etymograph

English

huckster

Huckster comes from Middle English hukster.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hukster
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1731huckster

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hukster
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1731huckster

Earliest quotation: 1731, Directions to Servants […]: “drive those china hucksters from the doors”.

The story

From Middle English hukster, probably of Low German or Dutch origin, from Middle Low German höken (‘to peddle’) or Middle Dutch hokester, itself from hoeken (‘to peddle, bend, bear on the back’), all from Proto-Germanic *huk-, probably related to *hūkan- (‘to squat’), from *hūkkan-, back-formed from the iterative *huk(k)ōn-, from Proto-Indo-European *kuk-néh₂, from *kewk- (‘to curve, bend’) (also the source of English high).

Every English word from Middle English hukster

Today it means

noun A peddler or hawker, who sells small items, either door-to-door, from a stall, or in the street.

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

Etymograph / Middle English hukster / huckster

Shirt and support for this word