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fork

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /fɔːk/ (UK); /fɔɹk/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English forke, borrowed from Old English forca (“pitchfork, forked instrument or weapon”), force,[2][3][4] a Germanic borrowing (compare Old Frisian forke, Dutch vork, Old Norse forkr) of Latin furca (“two-pronged fork, pitchfork”),[3][2][4] a word of uncertain origin.[3][2] It was reinforced in Middle English by Old North French forque, from the same Latin word.[2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A forked instrument used by torturers, a pitchfork or agricultural fork: about 1000, in Ælfric.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Forks were originally agricultural implements.[7] Plural forken meant a gallows (before 1200), and a forked stake or post is from about 1200;[2][3] a forked weapon is from before 1300.[2] The fork for eating, first recorded in 1463, came under the influence of Old North French forque;[2][6] table forks are said not to have been used among the English nobility until about 1430.[3] The division of a river is from 1753, of a road from 1839,[3] and a part of a bicycle from 1871.[3] In chess, an attack on two pieces at once is from the 1650s,[3] and in old slang forks were the fingers (1812).[3][6] The verb, to divide into branches, is from before 1325,[2][3] to pitch with a fork from 1812, and fork out, to pay, from 1831.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1000 – a forked implement.[2]
  • before 1325 – to branch (verb).[2]
  • 1463 – a table fork.[2]
  • 1650s – a chess fork.[3]
  • 1753 – a fork of a river.[3]
  • 1831 – fork out.[3]
  • 1839 – a fork in a road.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A utensil with two or more prongs, used for eating or serving food.
  2. A pronged tool used for digging, lifting or pitching.
  3. A division into two or more branches, as of a road or river, or the point where it divides.
  4. (chess) An attack by one piece on two others at once.

Verb

  1. To divide into branches.
  2. To lift, pitch or dig with a fork.
  3. (informal, fork out or over) To pay.

Word family

  • forker
  • forkful
  • forkless
  • forklike
  • pitchfork
  • bifurcate
  • forked
  • furcate

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press