Etymologically
Log in

ilk

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the English word ilk

Pronunciation

ilk1 same; kind, sort

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
an early Old English charter
Inherited from
Old English ilca via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Old English ilca

Etymology

The word for the same, later a kind or sort, is inherited from Middle English ilke (“same”),[2][3][4] inherited from Old English ilca (“the same”).[5][3][6][7] In Old English it was usually inflected as a weak adjective, though strong forms also occur.[5][7] The Old English word is a compound of a pronominal stem, also seen in Gothic 𐌹𐍃 (is, “he”) and Old High German ir, er (“he”),[5][8][4] and related to Latin is (“that”) and īdem (“the same”),[6][8] with the base of like and alike, Old English gelīc.[4][6][9] Etymonline reconstructs Proto-Germanic *ij-lik, with the first element from the Proto-Indo-European *i- (“demonstrative particle”), the source of yon;[10] Wiktionary gives Proto-Germanic *ilīkaz, from *iz and *-līkaz.[1] The OED compares the formation of which and such, and thilk,[5][8] and Etymonline adds each.[10] Etymonline notes that the word died out except in Scotland, and so escaped the usual southern sound changes.[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The same, the very same, as a pronoun and adjective, used with the, this or that: first in an early Old English charter, and in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Parker manuscript) for the year 755.[5] Barnhart dates the pronoun used as a noun, spelled ylce, to 1117, and the later spelling ilke to before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle.[11]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English ilke was the ordinary word for "same", used 63 times by Gower and once by Chaucer.[12] Ayto says that it had virtually died out as a plain synonym of same by the mid-16th century;[9] the OED records the adjective until 1832, Scottish in later use.[5] It survived in the Scottish phrase of that ilk, of the same place or name, used of landed families (Guthrie of that ilk for Guthrie of Guthrie), from 1473 in the OED[5][6] and 1536 in Barnhart.[11] Johnson (1755) explained it as denoting a gentleman whose surname and the title of his estate are the same, as in Macintosh of that ilk.[13] Because the phrase was applied mostly to families, that ilk was taken to mean "that family" and then "that set, that kind" from 1790;[5][10][9][4] Hoad calls this use erroneous.[6] With other words before it, the noun then came to mean simply a kind or sort (of a different ilk).[5][9]

Timeline

  • Old English – the same (person or thing), with the, this or that, in an early charter.[5]
  • 1117 – ylce, the pronoun used as a noun.[11]
  • 1473 – Scottish of that ilk, of the same place or name.[5] Barnhart dates the phrase to 1536.[11]
  • 1790 – family, class, set, especially in that ilk; later a kind or sort.[5][4][10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A type or kind; a sort or class of people or things, often in of that ilk or of his ilk: investors of a more cautious ilk.[14][4][5]
  2. (Scottish) of that ilk: of the place of the same name, said of a laird whose surname and estate are the same.[14][5][4]

Adjective

  1. (archaic or Scottish) The same, the very same.[4][5][8]

ilk2 each

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1175 the Ormulum
Inherited from
Old English ylc
Ultimate origin
Old English ylc

Etymology

The word for each is a chiefly east midland, northern and Scots variant of each,[5][8] inherited from Old English ylc, a variant of ǣlc (“each”).[4][15][5] Unlike each, it keeps the plain [k] of the stem; the OED explains this either by unpalatalized Old English forms, perhaps taken from inflected forms with [k] before a back vowel, or by the speech of areas with Scandinavian influence, and compares sic beside such.[5] Old English ylc is securely recorded only in Mercian, but its Middle English descendants suggest that it was much more widespread.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Each, every: about 1175, in the Ormulum.[5]

Semantic evolution

As a pronoun, especially in ilk other, each other, the word is recorded from about 1275.[5] Johnson (1755) noted that it was still used in Scotland for "each", as in ilk ane of you, every one of you.[13] Weekley distinguished it from the word in the phrase of that ilk, as the northern form of each seen in ilka lassie.[16] In the 19th century it was still current in Scotland and in Northumberland, Cumberland, Yorkshire and Lancashire, sometimes spelled elc in Cumberland;[17] the Shorter Oxford now calls it rare.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 1175 – each, every, in the Ormulum.[5]
  • c. 1275 – pronoun, each one, especially in ilk other, each other.[5]
  • 1488 – ilk-day's, everyday, ordinary, in Hary's Wallace (obsolete by 1720).[5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (Scottish) Each; every: ilk morning.[4][8][17]

Pronoun

  1. (Scottish) Each one.[4][5]

Usage notes

In US Black slang, ilk has also been recorded (2000) for something unpleasant or bizarre, from ill;[18] this is a separate word.[18]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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)
  3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  10. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  11. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  12. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
  13. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  14. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  15. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
  16. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  17. ^ a b 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)
  18. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com

Related etymologies

  • mold · also from Old English
  • worm · also from Old English
  • offspring · also from Old English
  • dwarf · also from Old English
  • deed · also from Old English
  • reckon · also from Old English
  • crab · also from Old English
  • heath · also from Old English
Cite this entry

“Ilk.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/ilk. Accessed 13 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·