hawk

hawk · noun, verb¹

1. Proto-Indo-European*kap-der.?
2. Proto-Germanic*habukaz
3. Proto-West Germanic*habuk
4. Old Englishhafoc
5. Middle Englishhauk
6. English todayhawk

Inherited from Middle English hauk, hauke, hawke, havek, from Old English hafoc, from Proto-West Germanic *habuk, from Proto-Germanic *habukaz, controversially derived from Proto-Indo-European *kopuǵos, perhaps ultimately derived from *kap- (“seize”). Cognate with West Frisian hauk, German Low German Haavke, Dutch havik, German Habicht, Swedish hök, Danish høg, Norwegian Bokmål hauk, Norwegian Nynorsk hauk, Faroese heykur, Icelandic haukur, Finnish haukka, Estonian haugas; also Latin capys, capus (“bird of prey”), Albanian gabonjë, shkabë (“eagle”), Russian ко́бец (kóbec, “falcon”), Polish kobuz (“Eurasian Hobby”)).

hawk · noun²

1. Middle English · inherited fromhache“battle-axe”
2. English todayhawk

Uncertain; perhaps from Middle English hache (“battle-axe”), or from a variant use of the above, for this compare with Russian со́кол (sókol, “falcon, but also a hawk (plaster's tool), mortarboard”).

hawk · verb³

Back-formation from hawker.

hawk · noun, verb⁴

Probably imitative, like hock (“cough”), hack (“cough”), although see the latter entry for more.

Hawk · proper noun⁵

1. Old English · derived fromhealh“nook”
2. Middle English · derived fromhalke“isolated nook”
3. Old English · inherited fromhafoc
4. Middle English · inherited fromhauek“hawk”
5. English todayHawk

* As an English surname, occupational surname for a hawker. This may have been inherited from Middle English hauek (“hawk”), from Old English hafoc. * Also as an English surname, from Middle English halke (“isolated nook”), from Old English healh (“nook”) + diminutive suffix -oc.

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from 1962 An advocate of aggressive political positions and actions.