Etymology

drug

D2R1U1G2

Today it means: A substance used to treat an illness, relieve a symptom, or modify a chemical process in the body for a specific purpose. Full definition →

Middle English drogge ← Middle French drogue ← Middle Low German droge
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drug · noun, verb1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*dʰerǵʰ-“to strengthen; become hard or solid”
  2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*draugiz“dry, hard”
  3. Old Dutch · derived fromdrōgi“dry”
  4. Middle Dutch · derived fromdrōghe“dry”
  5. Middle Low German · derived fromdroge
  6. Middle French · derived fromdrogue
  7. Middle English · inherited fromdrogge“medicine”
  8. English todaydrug

From Middle English drogge (“medicine”), from Middle French drogue, drocque (“tincture, pharmaceutical product”) (c. 1462), from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German droge, as in droge vate (“dry vats, dry barrels”), mistaking droge for the contents, which were usually dried herbs, plants or wares. Droge comes from Middle Dutch drōghe (“dry”), from Old Dutch drōgi (“dry”), from Proto-Germanic *draugiz (“dry, hard”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰerǵʰ- (“to strengthen; become hard or solid”), from *dʰer- (“to hold, hold fast, support”). Displaced native Old English lybb (“drug, medicine”). Cognate with English dry, Dutch droog (“dry”), German trocken (“dry”).

drug · verb2

  1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*drōg
  2. Old English · derived fromdrōg
  3. Middle English · inherited fromdrug
  4. English todaydrug

Germanic ablaut formation. If old, a doublet of drew, from Middle English drug, drog, drugh, drogh, from Old English drōg, from Proto-Germanic *drōg; compare Dutch droeg, German trug, Swedish drog. If secondary, probably formed by analogy with dug.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.