Etymology

knickerbocker

K5N1I1C3K5E1R1B3O1C3K5E1R1

Today it means: Of or relating to knickerbockers. Full definition →

Dutch knacker ← German Bäcker
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

knickerbocker · noun1

See knickerbockers.

Knickerbocker · noun2

  1. Dutch · derived frombakker
  2. German · derived fromBäcker
  3. Dutch · derived fromknicker“marble (toy)”
  4. Dutch · derived frombakker“baker”
  5. German · derived fromBäcker
  6. Dutch · derived fromknacker“cracker”
  7. English todayKnickerbocker

From Diedrich Knickerbocker, the pseudonym adopted by Washington Irving for his 1809 A History of New York, probably for the Knickerbackers of Schaghticoke, New York, descended from the Dutch immigrant Harmen Jansen van Bommel(l), who went variously by the names van Wy(y)e, van Wyekycback(e), Kinnekerbacker, Knickelbacker, Knickerbacker, Kinckerbacker, Nyckbacker, and Kynckbacker. The surname is of uncertain etymology, being variously explained as a corruption of Wyekycback, Dutch knacker (“cracker”) + German Bäcker, Dutch bakker (“baker”), or Dutch knicker (“marble (toy)”) + German Bäcker, Dutch bakker.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.