Unnumbered source etymology
Original entry ↗An instance of plucking or pulling sharply. · The lungs, heart with trachea and often oesophagus removed from slaughtered animals. · Guts, nerve, fortitude or persistence. · Cheap wine.
To pull something sharply; to pull something out · To take or remove (someone) quickly from a particular place or situation. · To play (a single string on a musical instrument) by pulling and then releasing it, such as on a guitar. · To remove feathers from (a bird).
From Middle English plucken, plukken, plockien, from Old English pluccian, ploccian (“to pluck, pull away, tear”), also Old English plyċċan ("to pluck, pull, snatch; pluck with desire"), from Proto-West Germanic *plukkōn, from Proto-Germanic *plukkōną, *plukkijaną (“to pluck”), of uncertain and disputed origin. Perhaps related to Old English pullian (“to pull, draw; pluck off; snatch”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian plukje (“to pluck”), West Frisian plôkje (“to pick, pluck”), Dutch plukken (“to pluck”), Limburgish plógte (“to pluck”), Low German plukken (“to pluck”), German pflücken (“to pluck, pick”), Danish and Norwegian plukke (“to pick”), Swedish plocka (“to pick, pluck, cull”), Icelandic plokka, plukka (“to pluck, pull”). More at pull. An alternative etymology suggests Proto-Germanic *plukkōną, *plukkijaną may have been borrowed from an assumed Vulgar Latin *pilūc(i)cāre, a derivative of Latin pilāre (“deprive of hair, make bald, depilate”), from pilus (“hair”). The Oxford English Dictionary, however, finds difficulties with this and cites gaps in historical evidence. The noun sense of "heart, liver, and lights of an animal" comes from it being plucked out of the carcass after the animal is killed; the sense of "fortitude, boldness" derives from this meaning, originally being a boxing slang denoting a prize-ring, with semantic development from "heart", the symbol of courage, to "fortitude, boldness".
Relationships mentioned by the source
These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.
- Inherited-form mentionpluckenenm
- Inherited-form mentionpluccianang
- Cognate mentionplyċċanang
- Inherited-form mention*plukkōngmw-pro
- Inherited-form mention*plukkōnągem-pro
- Cognate mentionpullianang · to pull, draw; pluck off; snatch
- Cognate mentionplukjestq
- Cognate mentionplôkjefy · to pick, pluck
- Cognate mentionplukkennl
- Cognate mentionplógteli
- Cognate mentionplukkennds
- Cognate mentionpflückende
- Cognate mentionplukkeno
- Cognate mentionplockasv
- Cognate mentionplokkais
- Derivation mention*plukkōnągem-pro
This page abbreviates 5 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",
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"3": "plucken"
},
"expansion": "Middle English plucken"
},
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "ang",
"3": "pluccian"
},
"expansion": "Old English pluccian"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "ang",
"2": "plyċċan"
},
"expansion": "Old English plyċċan"
},
{
"name": "gloss",
"args": {
"1": "\"to pluck, pull, snatch; pluck with desire\""
},
"expansion": "(\"to pluck, pull, snatch; pluck with desire\")"
},
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
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"2": "gmw-pro",
"3": "*plukkōn"
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"expansion": "Proto-West Germanic *plukkōn"
},
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
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"3": "*plukkōną"
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"expansion": "Proto-Germanic *plukkōną"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "ang",
"2": "pullian",
"t": "to pull, draw; pluck off; snatch"
},
"expansion": "Old English pullian (“to pull, draw; pluck off; snatch”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "stq",
"2": "plukje",
"3": "",
"4": "to pluck"
},
"expansion": "Saterland Frisian plukje (“to pluck”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "fy",
"2": "plôkje",
"t": "to pick, pluck"
},
"expansion": "West Frisian plôkje (“to pick, pluck”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "nl",
"2": "plukken",
"3": "",
"4": "to pluck"
},
"expansion": "Dutch plukken (“to pluck”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "li",
"2": "plógte",
"3": "",
"4": "to pluck"
},
"expansion": "Limburgish plógte (“to pluck”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "nds",
"2": "plukken",
"3": "",
"4": "to pluck"
},
"expansion": "Low German plukken (“to pluck”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "de",
"2": "pflücken",
"3": "",
"4": "to pluck, pick"
},
"expansion": "German pflücken (“to pluck, pick”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "da",
"2": "-"
},
"expansion": "Danish"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "no",
"2": "plukke",
"3": "",
"4": "to pick"
},
"expansion": "Norwegian plukke (“to pick”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "sv",
"2": "plocka",
"3": "",
"4": "to pick, pluck, cull"
},
"expansion": "Swedish plocka (“to pick, pluck, cull”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "is",
"2": "plokka"
},
"expansion": "Icelandic plokka"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "gem-pro",
"3": "*plukkōną"
},
"expansion": "Proto-Germanic *plukkōną"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "la-vul",
"2": "*pilucico",
"3": "*pilūc(i)cāre"
},
"expansion": "Vulgar Latin *pilūc(i)cāre"
}
],
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"plucken",
"plucken#Middle_English"
],
[
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[
"plockien",
"plockien#Middle_English"
],
[
"pluccian",
"pluccian#Old_English"
],
[
"ploccian",
"ploccian#Old_English"
],
[
"plyċċan",
"plyccan#Old_English"
],
[
"*plukkōn",
"Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/plukkōn"
],
[
"*plukkōną",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/plukkōną"
],
[
"*plukkijaną",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/plukkijaną"
],
[
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"pullian#Old_English"
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[
"plukje",
"plukje#Saterland_Frisian"
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[
"plôkje",
"plôkje#West_Frisian"
],
[
"plukken",
"plukken#Dutch"
],
[
"plógte",
"plógte#Limburgish"
],
[
"plukken",
"plukken#Low_German"
],
[
"pflücken",
"pflücken#German"
],
[
"plukke",
"plukke#Norwegian"
],
[
"plocka",
"plocka#Swedish"
],
[
"plokka",
"plokka#Icelandic"
],
[
"plukka",
"plukka#Icelandic"
],
[
"pull",
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[
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"Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/plukkōną"
],
[
"*plukkijaną",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/plukkijaną"
],
[
"*pilūc(i)cāre",
"Reconstruction:Latin/pilucico"
],
[
"pilāre",
"pilo#Latin"
],
[
"pilus",
"pilus#Latin"
],
[
"prize-ring",
"prize-ring"
]
],
"references": [],
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"lexical": [
{
"pos": "noun",
"glosses": [
"An instance of plucking or pulling sharply.",
"The lungs, heart with trachea and often oesophagus removed from slaughtered animals.",
"Guts, nerve, fortitude or persistence.",
"Cheap wine."
],
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"To pull something sharply; to pull something out",
"To take or remove (someone) quickly from a particular place or situation.",
"To play (a single string on a musical instrument) by pulling and then releasing it, such as on a guitar.",
"To remove feathers from (a bird)."
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