checker

checker¹ chessboard, pattern of squares

Etymology

The chessboard word is inherited from Middle English cheker, also chekier and chequer,^[2] borrowed from Old French eschequier (“chessboard; game of chess”), also eschekier,^[3][4][5][6] with the loss of the first syllable.^[3][7] In Anglo-Norman it is recorded as eschecker from the third quarter of the 12th century, for a chessboard, a reckoning board and the royal Exchequer.^[8] The Old French noun is formed from eschec (“check in chess”) with the suffix -ier;^[5][4][7] Etymonline traces it to Medieval Latin scaccarium (“chessboard”),^[3] and eschec itself comes through Vulgar Latin *scaccus and Arabic from Persian شاه (šâh, “king”), the chief piece in chess.^[3] The American Heritage Dictionary describes the Middle English word as an alteration of escheker,^[6] and the Shorter Oxford as an aphetic form of exchequer.^[9] The verb, to mark with squares, comes partly from the noun and partly from Old French eschequeré (“chequered”).^[3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The game of chess (or draughts): about 1250 in Barnhart, the mid-13th century in Etymonline.^[4][3] The sense "chessboard" is recorded probably before 1300.^[4][3][2]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word meant a board for chess or similar games, a set of chessmen and the game itself,^[2][3] senses that are now obsolete;^[3][9] Chaucer uses it twice, for a chessboard.^[10] A table covered with a checked cloth, on which money was counted with counters, was also a cheker,^[2][3] a sense found in Anglo-Latin from 1179;^[4][3] from it came the name of the royal treasury, the exchequer, in the mid-14th century.^[3][9] From the late 14th century the word was used for a checked pattern, a pattern of squares (1389 in Barnhart),^[3][4][9] and the verb appears, implied in checkered, in the alliterative Morte Arthure, probably before 1400.^[4][3] In East Yorkshire a checker was a pebble, and the English Dialect Dictionary notes that such pebbles were once used for reckoning on chequered tables.^[11] The plural checkers, the game of draughts, is recorded from 1712 in American English;^[4][9] the EDD also found it in Northumberland and Durham, where it was the only word in use.^[11] A single piece in the game has been a checker since 1864.^[3][9] From their spotted look, the fruits of the service tree were called chequers from 1573.^[12][9] Merriam-Webster also records the verb for varying something with contrasting elements, such as good and bad fortune.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – the game of chess.^[4][3]
• before 1300 – a chessboard; a set of chessmen.^[4][2]
• mid-14th century – the royal Exchequer.^[3]
• 1389 – a pattern of squares.^[4][13]
• before 1400 – the verb, to mark with squares, implied in checkered.^[4]
• 1573 – chequers, the fruit of the service tree.^[12]
• 1712 – checkers, the game of draughts, in American English.^[4]
• 1864 – a piece in the game of checkers.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pattern of squares in alternating colours, like a chessboard; one of the squares in such a pattern.^[6][5][14]
2. One of the round flat pieces used in the game of checkers; a draughtsman in British use.^[6][14][5]
3. The fruit of the service tree, or the tree itself.^[5][12][9]
4. (archaic) A chessboard.^[5][9]
5. (obsolete) The royal treasury; the exchequer.^[5][9]

Verb

1. To mark with a pattern of squares or checks.^[6][5]
2. To vary with different colours or shades; to variegate.^[5][9]
3. To vary with contrasting elements or circumstances: a career checkered by setbacks.^[5][9]

Word family

• checkerboard
• checkerwork
• checkerberry
• checkerbloom
• checkerspot
• checkered
• checkers

checker² one who checks

Etymology tree of checker²

inherited borrowed derived

English check

English checker

From the same root · checker²

English checkout ← check

English checkpoint ← check

Etymology

The word for one who checks is formed from English check + -er, as an agent noun from the verb.^{[12][9][5][3]} The verb comes from the chess term check, which goes back through Old French and Arabic to Persian شاه (šâh, “king”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who rebukes or criticizes someone: 1529, in a work by John Frith, a sense obsolete after 1701.^[12] Merriam-Webster dates the noun to 1535, and Etymonline only to 1867, as one who checks or controls, especially one who collects money for others.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

From 1607 a checker was a person or thing that stops or slows something, a sense now rare except in sport, where since 1862 it has meant a player who checks an opponent, as in ice hockey and lacrosse.^[12][9] The modern sense of a person employed to verify or inspect things dates from 1854,^[12] and in 1863 the word was also used for a person who takes charge of things left for safekeeping or transport.^[12][6] In North America a checker has worked at the checkout of a shop or supermarket since 1916, tallying purchases and taking payment,^[12][9] and since 1935 the word was used of a device or computer program that checks, as in spell-checker.^[12]

Timeline

• 1529 – a person who rebukes or criticizes (obsolete by 1701).^[12]
• 1607 – a person or thing that stops or hinders.^[12]
• 1854 – a person employed to verify or inspect.^[12] Etymonline dates the sense "one who checks or controls" to 1867.^[3]
• 1862 – a player who checks an opponent.^[12]
• 1863 – an attendant who takes charge of articles left for safekeeping.^[12]
• 1916 – a cashier at a shop checkout (North American).^[12]
• 1935 – a device or computer program that checks.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who checks, inspects or verifies something: a quality checker at the factory.^[6][5][12]
2. A cashier, especially at a supermarket checkout (chiefly North American).^[6][12][9]
3. A person who takes charge of coats, baggage or other items for temporary safekeeping or shipment.^[6][5][12]
4. A device or computer program that checks something, such as spelling.^[12]
5. (sports) A player who checks an opponent, as in ice hockey or lacrosse.^[12][9]

Word family

• spell-checker