Etymology

waker

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Today it means: Watchful; vigilant; alert. Full definition →

Middle English wakyr ← Old English wacor ← Proto-West Germanic *wakr
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waker · adjective1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · inherited from*wóǵ-ros“strong, lively”
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*wakraz“awake, watchful”
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*wakr
  4. Old English · inherited fromwacor
  5. Middle English · inherited fromwakyr
  6. English todaywaker

From Middle English wakyr, from Old English wacor, waccor (“watchful, vigilant”), from Proto-West Germanic *wakr, from Proto-Germanic *wakraz (“awake, watchful”), equivalent to wake + -er. Cognate with Scots wakir (“watchful”), Dutch wakker (“awake”), German wacker (“awake, alert, capable, brave”), Swedish vacker (“wakeful, watchful, fair, comely”). Also precisely cognate with Sanskrit वज्र (vájra, “adamantine”), both ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wóǵ-ros (“strong, lively”), and therefore a doublet of vajra. Further related through the same Indo-European root to vigil, vigor, and vegetable.

waker · noun2

  1. Middle English · inherited fromwakere
  2. English todaywaker

From Middle English wakere, equivalent to wake + -er. Compare West Frisian wekker (“alarm clock”, literally “waker”), Dutch wekker, German Wecker.

Waker · proper noun3

Either from waker, a nickname for a watchful person, or a variant of Walker.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.