keg

Etymology

It is a later form of cag,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} inherited from Middle English kag,^[7][6] recorded from 1452,^[5][2] borrowed from Old Norse kaggi (“keg, cask”).^[8][7][9][4] Most dictionaries call the source Scandinavian and compare the Old Norse word with Swedish kagge, kagge and Norwegian kagg;^{[5][6][10][11][12]} Barnhart and Etymonline add that its further origin is uncertain or unknown.^[5][10] Merriam-Webster takes it as probably related to Old High German kegil (“stake, peg”), Middle Dutch kegge (“wedge”) and dialectal Swedish kage (“tree stump”), with a basic meaning "branch, stake".^[6] The OED notes that some link it with Dutch kaag (“fishing boat”), since ships and casks often share a name, and compares French caque (“herring barrel”), but says nothing certain is known.^[2] It explains the vowel as a corruption, comparing the Cockney pronunciation of cab and catch with e,^[2] and Partridge also suggests a Cockney origin.^[13] The form with e was at first a dialect variant of northern cag,^[4] which the Oxford Dictionary of English calls Scots and US dialect.^[9] Johnson derived the word from French caque,^[14] and Weekley suggested that the French word came from the Norse one.^[15]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Middle English kag is a small barrel, first in a York will of 1452–3 that lists a wooden salt keg.^[7][2] The form keg first appears in Minsheu's dictionary (1617) for a portion of sturgeon enough to fill such a cask, and in 1632, in Sherwood's English–French dictionary, for the small barrel itself.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) described a keg as a small barrel, commonly used for fish.^[14] By the 19th century the word was American slang for the stomach (1887),^[2][16] and in northern English dialect for the belly, with cagum for a round belly.^[17] The specific sense of a barrel of beer, or beer itself, was first Australian and New Zealand slang (1945),^[2][10] while from 1949 keg beer came to mean beer kept and served from a pressurized keg.^[2][18] American student slang added kegger, a party with a keg of beer, by 1969.^[10] A soldiers' verb keg, to give up drink for a time, is recorded in 1789,^[16] and Cheshire dialect kept it for being a teetotaller for a month.^[17]

Timeline

• 1452 – kag, a small cask.^[2][7][5]
• 1617 – keg, a portion of sturgeon filling a keg (obsolete).^[2]
• 1632 – a small barrel or cask.^[2][5] Etymonline dates it to the 1630s.^[10]
• 1789 – verb, to abstain from drink.^[16]
• 1887 – slang, the stomach.^[2][16]
• 1945 – a barrel of beer; beer (Australia and New Zealand).^[2][10]
• 1949 – keg beer.^[2]
• 1969 – kegger, a beer party.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small barrel or cask, usually holding from five to ten gallons, or in the US up to 30 gallons.^[18][6][3]
2. The contents of a keg: They finished a whole keg of cider.^[6]
3. (chiefly British) A metal container in which beer is stored and served under pressure; also, beer served from one.^[18][2][3]
4. (Australia and New Zealand, slang) A barrel of beer; beer.^[2][3]
5. (US, slang) The stomach.^[2][16]

Word family

• kegger
• keg party
• powder keg

References

1. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d 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)
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
12. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
14. ^ 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.
15. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
16. ^ a b c d e Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
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 c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins