prod

Etymology

The origin is unknown.^[2][3][4][5] The OED suggests an expressive formation and compares prag, prog, proke, prick and brod.^[2] The Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English call it perhaps symbolic of a short poking movement, or a blend of poke and dialect brod, to goad.^[6][7] Barnhart and Etymonline take it as possibly a variant of brod, perhaps influenced by poke,^[8][9] from brodden (“to goad, urge”) (about 1475), from the noun brode (“goad; nail”), from brodd (“sprout, shoot”), borrowed from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse broddr (“shaft, spike, sprout”), the source of brad.^[8][9][10] Hoad thinks it perhaps of purely symbolic origin,^[11] and Klein perhaps related to brad.^[12] Weekley saw it as related to the obsolete proke, prog and brod, all used in similar senses.^[13] The OED rejects as very unconvincing the suggestion that the word is the first element of an obscure Old English compound in the Rushworth Gospels.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To poke or jab with something pointed: 1535, in the Coverdale Bible (Ecclesiasticus 38:25),^[2][8][4] where, Weekley notes, it is used of goading oxen.^[13]

Semantic evolution

The verb was used intransitively, to thrust or poke at something, from 1579,^[2] and of poking a hole from 1864, in Dickens.^[2] The figurative sense, to goad or stir someone to action, is recorded from 1832.^[2] The noun, a pointed instrument such as a skewer, poker or goad, is dated 1676 by the OED and Merriam-Webster;^[2][4] Barnhart and Etymonline found it first in Grose's Provincial Glossary (1787), and Etymonline calls it a provincial word, used also for a wooden pin that held thatch on a roof.^[8][9] The act of prodding is recorded from 1805, in Anderson's Cumberland ballads,^[2] and the figurative noun, a stimulus or prompt, from 1905, in Jack London's White Fang.^[2] In the dialects of Scotland, Ireland and northern and midland England, prod meant to poke about with a stick, to prod the memory was to jog it, and in West Yorkshire cricket it meant to keep the ball off the wicket without hitting boundaries.^[14] In the American West on the prod, used especially of animals, means hostile and ready to fight (1903).^[2][4]

Timeline

• 1535 – to poke or jab with something pointed, in the Coverdale Bible.^[2][8][4]
• 1579 – intransitive, to thrust or poke at something.^[2]
• 1676 – noun, a pointed instrument such as a goad or skewer.^[2][4] Barnhart and Etymonline date the noun to 1787.^[8][9]
• 1805 – noun, an act of prodding; a poke.^[2] Etymonline dates it to 1802.^[9]
• 1832 – figurative, to goad, stir up or prompt.^[2]
• 1864 – to poke a hole in something, in Dickens.^[2]
• 1903 – on the prod, hostile, irritable (western North America).^[2]
• 1905 – noun, figurative, a stimulus to action.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To poke or jab with a finger, a stick or another pointed object: He prodded the embers with a poker.^[4][15][2]
2. To urge or stir someone to action; to goad or prompt: Her friends prodded her into entering the race.^[4][15][2]
3. To poke or thrust at something, or about in something: The child prodded at his dinner.^[2][6][4]
4. To make a hole by poking.^[2][6]

Noun

1. An act of prodding; a poke or dig.^[15][2]
2. A pointed instrument used to drive, poke or stir, such as a cattle prod.^[4][15][2]
3. Something that urges to action; a reminder: a gentle prod about the unpaid bill.^[4][15][2]
4. on the prod (chiefly the western United States): irritable and ready to fight.^[4][2]

Word family

• prodder
• unprodded
• cattle prod

Related words

• brad
• brod
• prog
• proke
• poke
• prick
• prodnose

Usage notes

Capitalised Prod is a separate, often offensive slang word for a Protestant, especially in Northern Ireland, shortened from Protestant with the t voiced;^[2][4][6] Green's Dictionary of Slang records it from 1834,^[16] the OED and Merriam-Webster from 1837.^[2][4]

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 y z 27 28 29 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
11. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
13. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ 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)
15. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
16. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com