Etymologically
Log in

blocker

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the English word blocker

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1408 Testamenta Eboracensia
Ultimate origin
Old French bloc
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
English block
English blocker
From the same root
English blockade ← block
English blockbuster ← block

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈblɒkəː/[1]
  • US: /ˈblɑkɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English block + -er,[2][3][4][5] from the verb in its sense to obstruct, according to Etymonline and the OED.[3][2] That verb is from French bloquer (“to block, stop up”), from Old French bloc (“log, block of wood”),[3] which Etymonline traces to a Germanic source such as Middle Dutch bloc (“trunk of a tree”).[3] The OED notes that surnames such as Henry le Blocker (1212) and Deodatus le Blokkere (1275) suggest the word was in use much earlier, though it is unclear in which meaning.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A tool for making blocks: 1408, in a will printed in Testamenta Eboracensia.[2] Etymonline dates the tool sense to about 1400,[3] and Dictionary.com the word to 1200–50.[5]

Semantic evolution

The Shorter Oxford sums up the early uses as a person who works with a block in various trades;[4] from 1817 it was a worker who shapes hats or shoe leather on a block.[2] The general sense, a person or thing that obstructs or hinders, is recorded from 1687,[2] and Etymonline dates blocker of a person to about 1600.[3] Sports gave it a defensive batter in cricket (1838) and a player who blocks opponents in American football (1887),[2] which Etymonline dates to 1914.[3] In pharmacology it has meant since 1931 a drug that blocks a physiological process, as in beta blocker,[2][6] and since 1996 software that stops advertisements or pop-ups appearing.[2] Other uses were an Australian holder of a block of land (1872), a bowler hat in Lancashire (1910) and an ice-hockey goaltender's pad (1971).[2] In Cumberland and Yorkshire dialect a blocker was a hatchet or broad axe for squaring timber, and in Lincolnshire an advanced stage of drunkenness.[7] In recent British slang, also spelled blocka, it is a friend from one's own block of flats.[8]

Timeline

  • 1408 – a tool for making blocks.[2] Etymonline dates this sense to about 1400.[3]
  • 1687 – a person or thing that obstructs or hinders.[2]
  • 1817 – a person who shapes hats or leather on a block.[2]
  • 1838 – in cricket, a defensive batter.[2]
  • 1872 – in Australia, the holder of a block of land.[2]
  • 1887 – in American football, a player who blocks opponents.[2] Etymonline dates this sense to 1914.[3]
  • 1931 – a drug that blocks a physiological process.[2]
  • 1971 – an ice-hockey goaltender's pad.[2]
  • 1996 – software that blocks advertisements or pop-ups.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A person or thing that blocks or obstructs something.[6][9][2]
  2. (American football) A player whose job is to block opposing players.[9][2][4]
  3. (pharmacology) A drug or other agent that blocks a physiological function, such as the passage of ions through a channel: a calcium channel blocker.[6][2][4]
  4. Software that stops advertisements or pop-ups from appearing on a web page: an ad blocker.[2]
  5. (cricket) A batter who plays defensively to protect the wicket.[2][4]
  6. A worker who shapes something on a block, such as a hat.[9][2][4]
  7. A forging die that gives a piece roughly its final shape.[9]
  8. (ice hockey) The large pad that a goaltender wears on one hand.[2]

Word family

  • alpha-blocker
  • beta blocker
  • calcium channel blocker

Usage notes

An obsolete Scots blocker, a bargainer or broker (1598–1628), has a separate source, the verb block, to bargain.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  7. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  8. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  9. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Blocker.” Etymologically, 1 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/blocker. Accessed 1 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·