Etymology

drifter

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Today it means: A person who moves from place to place or job to job. Full definition →

English drift ← Middle English drift ← Old English *drift
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drifter · noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*dʰreybʰ-
  2. Proto-Germanic*drībaną
  3. Proto-Germanic*driftiz
  4. Old English*drift
  5. Middle Englishdrift
  6. Englishdrift
  7. English todaydrifter

From drift (verb) + -er.

drifter · noun2

  1. Proto-Indo-European*dʰreybʰ-
  2. Proto-Germanic*drībaną
  3. Proto-Germanic*driftiz
  4. Old English*drift
  5. Middle Englishdrift
  6. Englishdrift
  7. English todaydrifter

From drift (noun) + -er.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.