milk

Pronunciation

• IPA: /mɪlk/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English milk, mylc,^[2] inherited from Old English meoluc (West Saxon), milc (Anglian),^[3][2][4] from Proto-Germanic *meluk- (“milk”),^[3][4] from *melk- “to milk”,^[3][2] from Proto-Indo-European *melg- (“to wipe, rub off; to stroke; to milk”),^[3][4] in reference to the hand motion of milking.^[3][5] Germanic cognates include Old Norse mjólk, Dutch melk, German Milch and Gothic miluks,^[3][2] and the root also gave Latin mulgēre and Greek amélgein “to milk”.^[4][6] Old Church Slavonic meleko is considered a Germanic loan.^[3] The verb is Old English milcian, from the noun.^[7][4] It is related to emulsion.^[5][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The white fluid secreted by female mammals to feed their young: before 900 in the OED,^[9] before 899 in Alfred's translation of Bede according to Barnhart.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Milk-like plant juices are from about 1200.^[3] The verb's figurative sense “to exploit for profit” is attested by the 1520s,^[3] and in theatre jargon, “to get more applause than is warranted”, by 1938.^[3] The milk tooth is from 1727^[3] and milk chocolate is recorded by 1723.^[3] To cry over spilt milk is attested in 1820, in a Nashville newspaper,^[3] and a British paper called it an old saying in 1823.^[3] The milk of human kindness is from Shakespeare's Macbeth,^[5] and the land “flowing with milk and honey” from Exodus.^[5] The milkshake was used from 1889 for various drinks, the modern one from the 1930s.^[3] Milky Way (14th century) translates Latin via lactea.^[4]

Timeline

• before 900 – the fluid.^[9]
• c. 1200 – plant juices.^[3]
• 1520s – verb, to exploit.^[3]
• 1723 – milk chocolate.^[3]
• 1727 – milk tooth.^[3]
• 1820 – to cry over spilt milk.^[3]
• 1938 – to milk applause.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A whitish liquid produced by the mammary glands of female mammals to feed their young.
2. The milk of cows, goats or other animals, used as food.
3. A liquid like milk, such as the juice of a coconut or the sap of some plants.

Verb

1. To draw milk from a cow, goat or other animal.
2. To draw out or extract as if by milking.
3. To exploit for profit or advantage.

Word family

• milker
• milkless
• unmilked
• milking machine

Related words

• milch
• emulsion
• milksop
• milky
• lactic

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 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 q r s t u Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press