English
spigot
Spigot comes from Middle English spigot ‘wooden stopper’.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spigot‘wooden stopper’
- Englishearliest quotation 1952same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spigot‘wooden stopper’
- Englishearliest quotation 1952same form
Earliest quotation: 1952, Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man: “I went to the sink and turned the spigot,…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *spey- ‘long, thin, sharp’
spike, spine, spinal, spinach, cusp, asp, spire, spina, buckthorn, aspic, 28 more
through Latin spīca ‘a head, ear, spike’
Today it means
noun A pin or peg used to stop the vent in a cask.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English spigot / spigot