Etymologically
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park

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 19:45. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /pɑːk/, US /pɑːrk/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English parc, borrowed from Old French parc (“enclosed wood or heath used as a game preserve”),[2][3] from Medieval Latin parricus (“enclosure, park”),[2][4][5] probably from Proto-West Germanic *parruk (“enclosed tract of land”),[2][3] the source also of pearruc, whence paddock,[2][6][4] and of Old High German pfarrih (“fencing, enclosure”) and German Pferch (“sheepfold”).[2][4][7] Etymonline notes that the Germanic word is pre-4th-century and originally meant the fencing, not the place enclosed, and that some derive it the other way round, from the Medieval Latin.[2] Merriam-Webster suggests a Vulgar Latin parricus perhaps from Latin pertica (“pole, measuring rod”),[8] and Klein an Iberian *parra “trellis”.[9] The OED discounts a Celtic origin, since Welsh parc and Gaelic pairc are from English.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

An enclosed tract of land held by royal grant for keeping game: in parkselver, a fee paid for keeping such land, in 1222,[3][10] and on its own about 1260[11] or about 1300.[3]

Semantic evolution

Word Origins notes that the word was originally a legal term for land held by royal grant for game, distinct from a forest or chase.[7] A large ornamental ground round a country house is from 1715.[11] An enclosed lot in or near a town for public recreation is from the 1660s, first of London, where royal hunting parks were overrun by the growth of the city and opened to the public.[2][11] A national park is from 1841,[11] and a sports field from 1867 in American English.[2][11] An enclosure for military guns and wagons is from the 1680s, and the verb “to arrange military vehicles in a park” from 1812;[2] “to put a vehicle in a certain place” is by 1844[2] or 1864.[11] The verb “to enclose in a park” is from 1526.[11][3] Park-and-ride is from 1966.[2] In Scotland and northern England park means a field or paddock.[6][12]

Timeline

  • 1222 – parkselver.[3]
  • c. 1260 – a game preserve.[11]
  • 1526 – verb, to enclose in a park.[11]
  • 1660s – a public park.[2]
  • 1680s – a park of artillery.[2]
  • 1812 – verb, to arrange vehicles.[2]
  • 1844 – verb, to park a vehicle.[2]
  • 1867 – a sports field.[2]
  • 1966 – park-and-ride.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. An area of land in or near a town kept for recreation and ornament.
  2. A large area of land kept in its natural state for the public: a national park.
  3. The grounds of a country house.
  4. A sports field or stadium.
  5. An area for a specified purpose: an industrial park; a car park.

Verb

  1. To put or leave a vehicle in a place for a time.
  2. To place or leave temporarily.
  3. To assemble artillery or equipment in a military park.

Word family

  • parker
  • parklike
  • park-and-ride
  • double-park
  • overpark
  • repark
  • paddock
  • parquet
  • parrock

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 l m n o p q r Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  12. ^ 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)