Etymologically
Log in

kick

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 20:30. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English kiken,[2][3] perhaps borrowed from Old Norse kikna (“to bend backwards, sink at the knees”),[4][2][5] compare Norwegian keike “to bend backwards, wrangle”.[2] Liberman takes the Scandinavian origin as sure, relating it to Old Norse keikja “to bend back”, with the same root in another grade of ablaut, and to many words meaning “bend, twist”;[6] the OED's doubts about it are, he says, probably unfounded.[6][4] Hoad and the New Oxford call it of unknown origin.[7][8] Older sources guessed a Celtic origin,[4] but according to the OED the often-cited Welsh cicio is from English.[2] The spelling kick appears in the mid-16th century.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To strike out with the foot: about 1384 in Barnhart[2] and 1386 in Liberman,[6] in the Wycliffe Bible's kiken ayens the pricke “to kick against the pricks”, of showing defiance to one's own hurt.[2][4] The image is of an ox kicking at a goad, from the story of Saul on the road to Damascus.[5]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense “to complain, protest, rebel” is from the late 14th century, probably at least partly from the Bible verse.[4] The transitive “to strike with the foot” is from the 1580s.[4] The noun, a blow with the foot, is from 1530, in Palsgrave.[2][9] The recoil of a gun is from 1826 for the noun and 1832 for the verb.[4] The slang sense “to die” is from 1725,[4] kick out from the 1690s,[4] kicked upstairs from 1750[4] and kick in, “to contribute”, American from 1908.[4] The sense “stimulation from liquor or drugs” is from 1844,[4] and “a thrill”, often kicks, from 1941;[4] to kick a drug habit is from 1936.[4] An indentation in the bottom of a bottle, from 1861, is a separate word.[9][8]

Timeline

  • c. 1384 – to strike with the foot, in the Wycliffe Bible.[2]
  • 1530 – noun, a kick.[2][9]
  • mid-16th century – spelling kick.[2]
  • 1690s – kick out.[4]
  • 1725 – slang, to die.[4]
  • 1826 – the recoil of a gun.[4]
  • 1844 – a stimulating effect.[4]
  • 1936 – to give up a drug.[4]
  • 1941 – a thrill.[4]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To strike with the foot.
  2. To move a ball by striking it with the foot; to score by kicking.
  3. Of a gun, to recoil.
  4. To protest or complain.
  5. (informal) To give up a habit: to kick smoking.

Noun

  1. A blow with the foot.
  2. The recoil of a gun.
  3. A feeling of pleasure or excitement; a thrill.
  4. Strength or stimulating effect, as of a drink.

Word family

  • kickable
  • kickless
  • kickback
  • kickoff
  • sidekick
  • kick the bucket

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c Liberman, Anatoly (2008), An Analytic Dictionary of English Etymology: An Introduction, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press
  7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press