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drawing

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Etymology and origin of the English word drawing

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1300 life of Saint Lucy More words from the 13th century
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *draganą
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Old English dragan
English draw
English drawing
From the same root
English drawback ← draw
English drawer ← draw

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈdɹɔː.ɪŋ/[1]
  • US: /ˈdɹɑ.ɪŋ/, /dɹɔ.ɪŋ/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English draw + -ing,[2][3][4][5] as the gerund of Middle English drawen.[6] The verb is from Old English dragan (“to drag, to draw”),[3][7][5] from Proto-Germanic *draganą (“to draw, pull”),[3][8] with cognates in Old Norse draga, Old Saxon dragan, Old High German tragan and German tragen.[7][8] Ayto thinks its original meaning was "carry", which German and Dutch still have.[9] In drawing room the first element has a different source, being a shortening of withdrawing.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of pulling or drawing, in various senses: about 1300, in a life of Saint Lucy.[2][3] Merriam-Webster dates the word to the 14th century,[6] and Dictionary.com to 1275–1325.[5]

Semantic evolution

In hunting, around 1410, one could blowe drawyng on a horn.[10] In 1467 it appears for making lines and pictures,[2] which Etymonline puts in the late 15th century.[3] The picture itself follows in 1669, in Pepys;[2][3] the Shorter Oxford dates this to the late 17th century.[4] Johnson (1755) records only this branch, "delineation; representation".[11] The action of pulling continued in other trades: in textiles it named the drawing out of fibres from 1579,[2] and in the 1590s it was thieves' slang for picking a pocket.[2] From 1613 it was used of selecting lots in a lottery, in a notice from the Virginia Council.[2] From 1829 it was used of what is drawn out, especially a shop's takings.[2][4] Out of drawing, badly drawn, is recorded from 1827.[2] The drawing board dates from 1725, and the figurative return to it from 1941, in a Peter Arno cartoon in the New Yorker.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1300 – the action of pulling, or extraction.[2][3]
  • 1467 – the art or action of making lines and pictures.[2]
  • 1579 – in textiles, the pulling out of fibres.[2]
  • 1613 – the choosing of the winners in a lottery.[2]
  • 1669 – a picture made with lines.[2][3]
  • 1725 – drawing board.[3]
  • 1827 – out of drawing, badly drawn.[2]
  • 1829 – something drawn out; takings.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A picture or plan made with lines, usually in pencil or pen: a charcoal drawing of her brother.[12][6][2]
  2. The art or technique of making such pictures: He teaches drawing at the college.[12][6][2]
  3. The picking of the winning names or numbers in a lottery or raffle.[6][2][4]
  4. (plural) Money taken in by a business, or taken out of an account.[6][2][4]
  5. The action of pulling or extraction.[6][2]
  6. In textile making, the pulling out of fibres or threads.[2]
  7. A portion of tea leaves for one pot.[6][4]

Word family

  • underdrawing
  • drawing board
  • working drawing
  • line drawing

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  9. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  10. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Drawing.” Etymologically, 5 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/drawing. Accessed 5 Nov. 2026.

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