Etymology

onlooker

on·look·er
O1N1L1O1O1K5E1R1

Today it means: One who looks on or watches, without becoming involved or participating; an observer, a spectator. Full definition →

English looker ← Middle English loken ← Old English lōcian
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The story

  1. Englishon-
  2. Proto-West Germanic*lōkōn
  3. Old Englishlōcian
  4. Middle Englishloken
  5. Englishlook
  6. Englishlooker
  7. English todayonlooker

From on- (prefix meaning ‘at; on, upon’) + looker (“one that looks”), from the verb look on. Compare Old English onlōciend (“one who looks on or watches”), which did not survive into Middle English; forlookere was used in the latter language.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.