plough

plough · noun, verb¹

1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*plōgaz
2. Old Norse · derived fromplógr“plough (the implement)”
3. Old English · inherited fromplōh“hide of land, ploughland”
4. Middle English · inherited fromplouh
5. English todayplough

From Middle English plouh, plow, plugh(e), plough(e), plouw, from Old English plōh (“hide of land, ploughland”) and Old Norse plógr (“plough (the implement)”), both from Proto-Germanic *plōgaz, *plōguz (“plough”). Cognate with Scots pleuch, plou, North Frisian plog, West Frisian ploech, Low German Ploog, Dutch ploeg, Russian плуг (plug), German Pflug, Danish plov, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish plog, Icelandic plógur. Replaced Old English sulh (“plough, furrow”); see sullow.

Plough · proper noun²

From plough, a metonymic occupational surname for a plowwright or plowman.