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patchwork

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Etymology and origin of the English word patchwork

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
1634 W. Wood, New Englands Prospect
Ultimate origins
Middle English paccheEnglish work
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
English patch
English patchwork

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈpætʃwɜːk/[1]
  • US: /ˈpætʃwɝːk/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English patch + work.[2][3][4][5][6] The OED compares the earlier patchment and compatchment.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

As an adjective, made up of odds and ends: 1634, in W. Wood's New Englands Prospect.[2][7] The noun is recorded from 1697 for something put together from many different pieces, often in a makeshift way;[2] Etymonline dates it to the 1690s as "work composed of ill-sorted parts clumsily put together".[4]

Semantic evolution

The word was used figuratively for a jumble of ill-assorted parts before it is recorded for needlework.[2][4] The needlework sense, small pieces of cloth of different colours and patterns sewn together into one article, is recorded from 1703,[2] and Etymonline from the 1720s, noting that it is perhaps the older sense.[4] The OED notes that the figurative "medley" sense is now usually taken as a figurative use of the needlework one.[2] Johnson (1755) defined only the needlework, quoting Gulliver's Travels.[6] From 1865 a patchwork was also a surface divided into many small areas of different shapes and colours, especially the land seen from above.[2] The verb, to make a patchwork of something or to vary a landscape with contrasting areas, dates from the 1850s.[2]

Timeline

  • 1634 – adjective, made up of odds and ends.[2][7]
  • 1697 – noun, a medley or jumble of different pieces.[2][4]
  • 1703 – needlework of small pieces of fabric sewn together.[2]
  • 1711 – adjective, made of patchwork, as in patchwork quilt.[2]
  • 1712 – repair work, patching up (rare).[2]
  • 1853 – verb, to variegate a landscape with contrasting areas.[2]
  • 1856 – verb, to cobble together.[2]
  • 1865 – a surface of many small areas of different shapes and colours.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Needlework in which small pieces of fabric of different colours and patterns are sewn together, as for a quilt.[8][2][7]
  2. Something made up of various, often ill-assorted parts; a jumble or hodgepodge: The new policy was a patchwork of earlier proposals.[8][7][2]
  3. A surface divided into many small areas of different colours and shapes, as fields seen from the air.[2]

Adjective

  1. Made of patchwork, or put together from patches: a patchwork cushion.[2]
  2. Made up of miscellaneous pieces or odds and ends.[2][3]

Verb

  1. To put together haphazardly; to cobble together.[2]
  2. To make patchwork from pieces of fabric.[2]

Word family

  • patchworky
  • patchwork quilt
  • patchy
  • patch
  • work

References

  1. ^ a b 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 s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b 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 d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
Cite this entry

“Patchwork.” Etymologically, 2 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/patchwork. Accessed 2 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·