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Whig

Etymology and origin of the English word Whig

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ʍɪɡ/, /wɪɡ/[1]

Etymology

Probably a shortening of Whiggamore,[2][3][4][5][6] the name of the Scottish Presbyterians from the west who marched on Edinburgh in 1648 to oppose Charles I.[3][4][5] Whiggamore may originally have meant “horse drover”, from the dialect verb whig “to urge forward” and mare.[4][6] Barnhart and Etymonline suggest that whigg “country bumpkin” (1640s) also played a part.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

An adherent of the Presbyterian cause in Scotland, a Covenanter (1657);[7][3][4] before that, a yokel or country bumpkin (c. 1645).[7]

Semantic evolution

About 1679 the name was applied to the Exclusioners, who opposed the succession of the Catholic James, Duke of York,[7] and from 1689 it named one of the two great British political parties, opposed to the Tories and favouring parliamentary power and reform.[7][3][4][5] In America a Whig was a colonist who supported the Revolution (1768),[7][4] and later an opponent of Andrew Jackson;[3][4] the Whig party formed in 1834 and merged into the Republican party in 1854–56.[7][4][3]

Timeline

  • c. 1645 – a country bumpkin.[7]
  • 1649 – Whiggamore.[3][4]
  • 1657 – a Scottish Presbyterian.[7][3][4]
  • c. 1679 – an Exclusioner.[7]
  • 1689 – a member of the British party.[7][3][4]
  • 1768 – an American supporter of the Revolution.[7][4]
  • 1834 – a member of the American Whig party.[7][4]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A member or supporter of a British political party of the late 17th to the 19th centuries that sought to limit royal power and increase that of Parliament, opposed to the Tories.
  2. An American who supported independence from Britain during the American Revolution.
  3. A member of an American political party formed about 1834 in opposition to the Democrats, favouring high tariffs and a strong legislature.

Word family

  • Whiggery
  • Whiggish
  • Whiggism
  • Tory
  • Whiggamore
  • Covenanter

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
Cite this entry

“Whig.” Etymologically, 11 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/Whig. Accessed 11 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·