Etymology

trunk

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Today it means: The usually single, more or less upright part of a tree, between the roots and the branches. Full definition →

Middle English tronke ← Old French tronc ← Latin truncus
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trunk · noun, verb1

  1. Latin · derived fromtruncus“a stock, lopped tree trunk”
  2. Old French · derived fromtronc“alms box, tree trunk, headless body”
  3. Middle English · inherited fromtronke
  4. English todaytrunk

From Middle English tronke, trunke, from Old French tronc (“alms box, tree trunk, headless body”), from Latin truncus (“a stock, lopped tree trunk”), from truncus (“cut off, maimed, mutilated”). For the verb, compare French tronquer, and see truncate. Doublet of truncus and tronk.

Trunk · proper noun2

  1. German · borrowed fromTrunk
  2. English todayTrunk

Borrowed from German Trunk, also a Jewish Ashkenazi surname.

Words from the same roots

Latintruncus all →

truncustruncheontronk

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.