Etymology

rubberneck

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Today it means: Someone who engages in rubbernecking, or turning and staring. Full definition →

English neck ← Middle English nekke ← Old English hnecca
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic*rubbōną
  2. Proto-West Germanic*rubbōn?
  3. Middle Englishrubben
  4. Englishrub
  5. Englishrubber
  6. Proto-Germanic*hnakkô
  7. Proto-West Germanic*hnakkō
  8. Old Englishhnecca
  9. Middle Englishnekke
  10. Englishneck
  11. English todayrubberneck

From rubber + neck. Coined in the sense of "tourist" in the United States in the late 19th century. A favored Americanism of H.L. Mencken.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.