hacker

hacker · noun¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · inherited from*keg-
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*hakkōną“to chop, hack”
3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*hakkōn“to chop, hack”
4. Old English · inherited from*haccian“to hack”
5. Middle English · inherited fromhackere
6. English todayhacker

From Late Middle English hackere, hakker, hakkere (“one who cuts wood, woodchopper, woodcutter; (rare) tool for cutting wood”), from hakken, hacke (“to cut (something) with a chopping action, hack; to make a chopping action”) + -er(e) (suffix forming agent nouns). Hakken is derived from Old English *haccian (“to hack”), from Proto-West Germanic *hakkōn (“to chop, hack”), from Proto-Germanic *hakkōną (“to chop, hack”), from Proto-Indo-European *keg-, *keng- (“to be sharp; a handle; a hook; a peg”). The English word may be analysed as hack (“to chop or cut down in a rough manner”) + -er (suffix forming agent nouns).

hacker · noun²

Possibly from hack(ney cab) (“carriage pulled by a hackney horse, or motorized vehicle, available for public hire”) + -er (suffix forming agent nouns).

hacker · verb³

From hack (“(obsolete) to confuse or mangle (words) when speaking”) + -er (suffix forming frequentative verbs).

Hacker · proper noun⁴

1. Yiddish · derived fromהעקער
2. English todayHacker

English, Dutch, German and Jewish occupational surname, all from the noun hacker (“one who hacks”). The Jewish form probably arrives via Yiddish העקער (heker), from צעהאַקן (tsehakn) (see German hacken).

Words from the same roots