*SET-U

English word origin

Etymology of rivet

From Old French rivet (13th century), from the verb Old French river (“to fetter [a person]”) (12th century), from Old French rive (“rim, edge”) (ca. 1100), which is ultimately from Latin ripa (“riverbank”). Compare rive

2 source sectionsExtended source reportWiktionary original ↗
In this entry · 2 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Unnumbered source etymology · variant 1/2

Original entry ↗
verb

To attach or fasten parts by using rivets. · To install rivets (see Usage notes). · To command the attention of. · To make firm or immovable.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

From Old French rivet (13th century), from the verb Old French river (“to fetter [a person]”) (12th century), from Old French rive (“rim, edge”) (ca. 1100), which is ultimately from Latin ripa (“riverbank”). Compare river, rival, riparian. The sense "kind of footman's armour" is apparently a back-formation from almain rivet, which is apparently derived from the English noun; see that entry for more.

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

  • Derivation mentionrivetfro
  • Derivation mentionriverfro
  • Derivation mentionrivefro
  • Derivation mentionripala
Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

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    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fro",
        "3": "rivet"
      },
      "expansion": "Old French rivet"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fro",
        "3": "river",
        "4": "",
        "5": "to fetter [a person]"
      },
      "expansion": "Old French river (“to fetter [a person]”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
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        "3": "rive",
        "4": "",
        "5": "rim, edge"
      },
      "expansion": "Old French rive (“rim, edge”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "ripa",
        "4": "",
        "5": "riverbank"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin ripa (“riverbank”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "back-form",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "almain rivet",
        "nocap": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "back-formation from almain rivet"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "rivet",
      "rivet#Old_French"
    ],
    [
      "river",
      "river#Old_French"
    ],
    [
      "rive",
      "rive#Old_French"
    ],
    [
      "ripa",
      "ripa#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "river",
      "river#English"
    ],
    [
      "rival",
      "rival#English"
    ],
    [
      "riparian",
      "riparian#English"
    ],
    [
      "almain rivet",
      "almain rivet#English"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "verb",
      "glosses": [
        "To attach or fasten parts by using rivets.",
        "To install rivets (see Usage notes).",
        "To command the attention of.",
        "To make firm or immovable."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive",
        "figuratively"
      ],
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}

Unnumbered source etymology · variant 2/2

Original entry ↗
noun

A cylindrical mechanical fastener which is supplied with a factory head at one end and is used to attach multiple parts together by passing its bucktail through a hole and upsetting its end to form a field head. · Any fixed point or certain basis. · A light kind of footman's plate armour; an almain rivet.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

From Old French rivet (13th century), from the verb Old French river (“to fetter [a person]”) (12th century), from Old French rive (“rim, edge”) (ca. 1100), which is ultimately from Latin ripa (“riverbank”). Compare river, rival, riparian. The sense "kind of footman's armour" is apparently a back-formation from almain rivet, which is apparently derived from the English noun; see that entry for more.

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

  • Derivation mentionrivetfro
  • Derivation mentionriverfro
  • Derivation mentionrivefro
  • Derivation mentionripala
Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

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      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fro",
        "3": "rivet"
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      "expansion": "Old French rivet"
    },
    {
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        "3": "river",
        "4": "",
        "5": "to fetter [a person]"
      },
      "expansion": "Old French river (“to fetter [a person]”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fro",
        "3": "rive",
        "4": "",
        "5": "rim, edge"
      },
      "expansion": "Old French rive (“rim, edge”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "ripa",
        "4": "",
        "5": "riverbank"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin ripa (“riverbank”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "back-form",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "almain rivet",
        "nocap": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "back-formation from almain rivet"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "rivet",
      "rivet#Old_French"
    ],
    [
      "river",
      "river#Old_French"
    ],
    [
      "rive",
      "rive#Old_French"
    ],
    [
      "ripa",
      "ripa#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "river",
      "river#English"
    ],
    [
      "rival",
      "rival#English"
    ],
    [
      "riparian",
      "riparian#English"
    ],
    [
      "almain rivet",
      "almain rivet#English"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [
    {
      "lang": "Amharic",
      "lang_code": "am",
      "word": "ሪቬት",
      "raw_tags": [
        "borrowed"
      ],
      "roman": "rivet"
    }
  ],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "noun",
      "glosses": [
        "A cylindrical mechanical fastener which is supplied with a factory head at one end and is used to attach multiple parts together by passing its bucktail through a hole and upsetting its end to form a field head.",
        "Any fixed point or certain basis.",
        "A light kind of footman's plate armour; an almain rivet."
      ],
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      ],
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Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for rivet →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source provenance
Source SHA-256
5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run
73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID
w-cml2ZXQ