Source etymology 1
Original entry ↗To prod or jab with an object such as a finger or a stick. · To stir up a fire to remove ash or promote burning. · To rummage; to feel or grope around. · To modify the value stored in (a memory address).
A prod, jab, or thrust. · A lazy person; a dawdler. · A stupid or uninteresting person. · An old, worn-out horse.
From Middle English poken, perhaps from Middle Dutch poken or Middle Low German poken, both from Proto-West Germanic *pukōn or similar, which is itself of uncertain origin, but may be from an imitative Proto-Germanic root *puk-. Doublet of poach. Compare Nordic cognates Swedish påka (“to poke, muck with a stick”), påk (“club, limb; dagger”), pykel (“small poker”), dialectal Norwegian pauka (“to walk stomping, etc”), pauk (“weak, slow person”). Central European noun-cognates refer to “dagger, bad knife, poker (for a fireplace)”, with analog verbs. To a Proto-Germanic *pauk-, *puk-, meaning, “to stick, muck with a stick”.
Relationships mentioned by the source
These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.
This page abbreviates 10 auxiliary source items. The etymology narrative is not shortened. Omission counts are available in the audit fields below; consult the original for complete auxiliary material.
Inspect preserved source fields
Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.
{
"templates": [
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "enm",
"3": "poken"
},
"expansion": "Middle English poken"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "dum",
"3": "poken"
},
"expansion": "Middle Dutch poken"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "gml",
"3": "poken"
},
"expansion": "Middle Low German poken"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "gmw-pro",
"3": "*pukōn"
},
"expansion": "Proto-West Germanic *pukōn"
},
{
"name": "glossary",
"args": {
"1": "imitative"
},
"expansion": "imitative"
},
{
"name": "onomatopoeic",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"title": "imitative"
},
"expansion": "imitative"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "gem-pro",
"3": "-"
},
"expansion": "Proto-Germanic"
},
{
"name": "doublet",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "poach#Etymology 2"
},
"expansion": "Doublet of poach"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "sv",
"2": "påka",
"t": "to poke, muck with a stick"
},
"expansion": "Swedish påka (“to poke, muck with a stick”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "no",
"2": "pauka",
"t": "to walk stomping, etc"
},
"expansion": "Norwegian pauka (“to walk stomping, etc”)"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "gem-pro",
"3": "",
"4": "*pauk-"
},
"expansion": "Proto-Germanic *pauk-"
}
],
"links": [
[
"poken",
"poken#Middle_English"
],
[
"poken",
"poken#Middle_Dutch"
],
[
"poken",
"poken#Middle_Low_German"
],
[
"*pukōn",
"Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/pukōn"
],
[
"poach",
"poach#Etymology 2"
],
[
"påka",
"påka#Swedish"
],
[
"påk",
"påk#Swedish"
],
[
"pykel",
"pykel#Swedish"
],
[
"pauka",
"pauka#Norwegian"
],
[
"pauk",
"pauk#Norwegian"
]
],
"references": [],
"descendants": [],
"lexical": [
{
"pos": "verb",
"glosses": [
"To prod or jab with an object such as a finger or a stick.",
"To stir up a fire to remove ash or promote burning.",
"To rummage; to feel or grope around.",
"To modify the value stored in (a memory address)."
],
"tags": [
"figuratively",
"dated",
"transitive"
],
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},
{
"pos": "noun",
"glosses": [
"A prod, jab, or thrust.",
"A lazy person; a dawdler.",
"A stupid or uninteresting person.",
"An old, worn-out horse."
],
"tags": [
"US",
"slang"
],
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}
],
"omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
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"lexicalRecords": 0,
"lexicalSenses": 10,
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}
}