Etymology

plug

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Today it means: A pronged connecting device which fits into a mating socket, especially an electrical one. Full definition →

Dutch plug ← Middle Dutch plugge ← Old Dutch *pluggi
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*plugjaz
  2. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*plugi
  3. Old Dutch · derived from*pluggi
  4. Middle Dutch · derived fromplugge“peg, plug”
  5. Dutch · borrowed fromplug
  6. English todayplug

From Dutch plug, from Middle Dutch plugge (“peg, plug”), from Old Dutch *pluggi, from Proto-West Germanic *plugi. Further origin unknown. Possibly from Proto-Germanic *plugjaz, but the word seems originally restricted to northern continental West Germanic. Perhaps ultimately from the same source as Dutch plag (“cut-out sod”), itself considered to be from a substrate. Compare German Low German Plüg, Norwegian plug (“peg, wedge”, probably borrowed from Middle Low German), German Pflock (“peg”, restricted to Central German and phonetically divergent). Possibly akin to Lithuanian plúkti (“to strike, hew”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.