pick

pick · noun, verb¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*bew-
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*pikkōną“to pick, peck, prick, knock”
3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*pikkōn
4. Old English · inherited from*piccian
5. Middle English · inherited frompiken
6. English todaypick

From Middle English piken, picken, pikken, from Old English *piccian, *pīcian (attested in pīcung (“a pricking”)), and pīcan, pȳcan (“to pick, prick, pluck”), both from Proto-West Germanic *pikkōn, from Proto-Germanic *pikkōną (“to pick, peck, prick, knock”), from Proto-Indo-European *bew-, *bu- (“to make a dull, hollow sound”). Doublet of pitch and peck. Cognate with Dutch pikken (“to pick”), German picken (“to pick, peck”), Old Norse pikka, pjakka (whence Icelandic pikka (“to pick, prick”), Swedish picka (“to pick, peck”)). Compare also German Low German puken (“to pick out, rip out, pull away, extract”).

Pick · proper noun²

1. Latin · derived frompix
2. Low German · derived frompick“pitch”
3. English todayPick

* As an English, Dutch, and German surname, related to pickaxe. * As a German surname, from Low German pick (“pitch”), itself ultimately from Latin pix. * As an English surname, from pike (“kind of fish”).

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from 20th c. Pasture; feed, for animals.