Etymology

pitchfork

pitch·fork
P3I1T1C3H4F4O1R1K5

Today it means: An agricultural hand tool comprising a fork with sparse, light tines, attached to a long handle, used for pitching hay (especially loose hay) high up onto a stack (as on a wagon or haystack, or into a haymow). Full definition →

Middle English pichfork
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Middle English · inherited frompichfork
  2. English todaypitchfork

From Middle English pichfork, pycchefork, pychforke, pikeforke, pikkforke, pic-forcke, equivalent to pitch (verb) + fork (i.e. "a fork used for pitching or throwing material, like hay"). The figurative sense (noun sense 4) is an allusion to a crowd of farmers wielding their farm tools as weapons.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.