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Etymology and origin of the English word peck

Pronunciation

peck1 unit of dry measure

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1280 in an Anglo-Latin context
Borrowed from
Anglo-Norman pek via Middle English

Etymology

The unit of dry measure is inherited from Middle English pek, also pekke,[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman pek (“peck, a dry measure”),[5][6][7][8][9] which the OED records from about 1240 and the Anglo-Norman Dictionary from the late 13th century.[5][9] The Anglo-Norman word is of uncertain or unknown origin.[5][6][7][8] The Medieval Latin pecca and peccum are probably taken from it,[5][6] and Barnhart holds that both these Latin forms and the French one were borrowed from English.[3] The OED suggests a connection with Old French picotin (“a small measure of oats”), itself perhaps from picoter (“to prick repeatedly, to peck”), or else a derivation from the verb peck2, perhaps influenced by picotin;[5] Klein too relates the Old French measure to picot.[10] Etymonline notes that it was chiefly a measure of oats for horses, so that its first sense may have been an allowance rather than a fixed measure,[2] and Weekley thought the phrase “a peck of troubles” points the same way.[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

A dry measure: pek about 1280, in an Anglo-Latin context, and peck for a container holding that amount in 1296.[3] The OED, which leaves it unclear whether some early records are English or Anglo-Norman, first records a vessel holding a peck in 1381 and the measure itself in Chaucer's Reeve's Tale (about 1390).[5][4]

Semantic evolution

As a unit the peck became a quarter of a bushel, now two imperial gallons (about 9.09 litres) in Britain and eight quarts (about 8.81 litres) in the United States.[5][6][12] The word also named a measure of land from 1442, in Scotland one of three acres, until the 19th century,[5] and in northern English dialect a liquid measure of two gallons (1805–1930).[5] From about 1535 it meant a great quantity, chiefly in the phrase “a peck of troubles”.[5][3] From 1603 it appears in proverbs such as one must eat a peck of dirt before one dies.[5] Johnson (1755) defined it as the fourth part of a bushel.[13]

Timeline

  • c. 1240 – Anglo-Norman pek.[5]
  • c. 1280 – pek, in an Anglo-Latin context.[3]
  • 1296 – a container holding a peck.[3]
  • c. 1390 – the unit of dry measure, in Chaucer.[5]
  • 1442 – a measure of land (obsolete by 1881).[5]
  • c. 1535 – a great quantity, as in a peck of troubles.[5][3]
  • 1603 – proverbial a peck of dirt.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A unit of dry capacity equal to a quarter of a bushel or eight quarts.[8][12][6]
  2. A container that holds this amount.[8][12]
  3. The amount measured by a peck: a peck of apples.[12][5]
  4. A large quantity or number, chiefly in a peck of trouble.[8][12][5]

peck2 to strike with the beak

Confidence
Disputed
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1300
Inherited from
Middle English pekken

Etymology

The verb meaning "to strike with the beak" is inherited from Middle English pekken, also pecken and pechen,[14][3] apparently a variant of piken (“to pierce, pick”), the ancestor of pick.[5][12][10][15][3] Weekley called it a collateral form of pick, the two often varying in Middle English texts.[11] It may also come, at least in part, from Middle Low German pekken (“to peck with the beak”),[3][2][15][7][14] which the Shorter Oxford takes as its probable source;[6] Dictionary.com derives it from Middle Dutch pecken,[16] and the OED compares that Middle Dutch verb, itself a variant of picken.[5] The noun is formed from the verb.[5][6][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Peck mood, to become angry: about 1330, in Richard Coer de Lyon,[5][3] after a spelling pechen probably before 1300, which Barnhart takes as a misspelling.[3] The literal sense, of a bird striking with the beak, is first recorded before 1382, in the Wycliffite Bible.[5][3][14]

Semantic evolution

By about 1390 a bird could also peck up food, in Chaucer's Nun's Priest's Tale;[5][4] Hoad dates striking with a pointed tool to the 16th century.[7] In thieves' cant peck meant to eat from about 1536,[5][17] and the noun meant food or grub from 1567;[5][3][12] Etymonline dates the noun to the 1560s in thieves' slang and to the 1610s for an act of pecking.[2] To peck at, to carp or nag, is recorded from 1641, and to eat fussily from 1908.[5] The noun for a light, perfunctory kiss is recorded from 1849, in Dickens's David Copperfield,[5] and Barnhart dates the sense to 1893;[3] the verb "to kiss lightly" follows in 1895.[5] From 1901 the verb was used of typing with jabbing fingers.[5] In the 1920s students of animal behaviour found that hens keep a hierarchy in which some may peck others without retaliation, the pecking order.[18] In Yorkshire and Cheshire dialect, to peck for oneself was to earn one's own living.[19]

Timeline

  • before 1300 – pechen, probably a misspelling.[3]
  • c. 1330 – peck mood, to become angry (obsolete by 1500).[5][3]
  • before 1382 – of a bird, to strike with the beak, in the Wycliffite Bible.[5][3][14]
  • c. 1390 – to pick up with the beak, in Chaucer.[5]
  • c. 1536 – cant, to eat.[5][17]
  • 1567 – noun, food (cant).[5][3][12]
  • 1591 – noun, a mark made by pecking.[5][3]
  • 1611 – noun, an act of pecking.[5][2]
  • 1641 – to peck at, to carp or nag.[5]
  • 1849 – noun, a light kiss.[5]
  • 1895 – verb, to kiss lightly.[5]
  • 1901 – to type with jabbing fingers.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. Of a bird, to strike, pierce or make holes in something with quick blows of the beak: A crow pecked the bin bag open.[12][15][5]
  2. To pick up food with the beak: Pigeons pecked up the crumbs.[12][15][5]
  3. To kiss quickly and casually: He pecked his aunt on the cheek.[12][15][5]
  4. To eat in small bites, without appetite.[15][5]
  5. peck at: to nag or criticize someone persistently.[5][15]
  6. To type slowly with one or two fingers.[5]

Noun

  1. A quick stroke with the beak or a pointed tool.[12][5]
  2. A mark or hole made by pecking.[12][5]
  3. A quick light kiss: a peck on the cheek.[12][5][8]
  4. (slang) Food.[12][5][17]

Word family

  • henpeck
  • peckish
  • pecker
  • woodpecker
  • pecking order
  • hunt and peck

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  9. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  10. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  11. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  14. ^ 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)
  15. ^ a b c d e f g The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  16. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  17. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  18. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  19. ^ 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)

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Peck.” Etymologically, 31 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/peck. Accessed 31 Oct. 2026.

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