Etymology

cank

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Today it means: Gossip, chatter. Full definition →

Middle English *cank ← Old English canc ← Proto-West Germanic *kank
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*geng-
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*kanką“laughter”
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*kank
  4. Old English · inherited fromcanc
  5. Middle English · inherited from*cank
  6. English todaycank

From Middle English *cank (compare Middle English cang (“foolish"; also "fool”, adj and noun) > obsolete English cank (“dumb, stupid”)), from Old English canc, ġecanc (“scorn, jeering”), from Proto-West Germanic *kank, from Proto-Germanic *kanką (“laughter”), from Proto-Indo-European *geng-, *genǵ- (“to mock, insult”).

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*geng- all →

conger

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.