Etymologically
Log in

rod

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 13:51. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ɹɒd/ (UK); /ɹɑd/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English rodde, inherited from Old English rodd (“a rod, pole”),[2][3][4] probably cognate with Old Norse rudda (“club”),[2][3][5][6] from Proto-Germanic *rudd-, perhaps from PIE Proto-Indo-European *reudh- (“to clear land”).[3][4] Others formerly linked it with the continental words under rood.[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A straight slender shoot growing on or cut from a tree; an instrument of punishment: before 1150 in the OED, the mid-12th century in Etymonline.[7][3][6]

Semantic evolution

Word Origins notes that phrases with rod tend to evoke traditional, severe punishment, as spare the rod.[8] Figuratively, any punishment is from the 14th century,[3] and an offshoot, in the Bible a scion or tribe, from the mid-15th century.[3][7] A fishing rod is from the mid-15th century.[3] As a unit of length, 5½ yards, also called a perch or pole, it is from the late 14th century.[3][5] In mechanics, any slender bar is from 1728,[3] and a light-sensitive cell in the retina by 1837.[3] A handgun is slang by 1903,[3] and hot rod, a modified car, is 20th-century.[9]

Timeline

  • before 1150 – a shoot; a rod for punishment.[7]
  • late 14th century – a unit of length.[3]
  • mid-15th century – a fishing rod.[3]
  • 1728 – a bar in a machine.[3]
  • 1837 – a retinal cell.[3]
  • 1903 – a handgun (slang).[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A thin, straight bar of wood or metal.
  2. A stick or bundle of twigs used for beating someone, or punishment generally.
  3. A fishing rod.
  4. A unit of length equal to 5½ yards; a perch or pole.
  5. One of the light-sensitive cells in the retina that respond to dim light.
  6. (US slang) A pistol.

Word family

  • rodless
  • rodlike
  • rood
  • ramrod
  • lightning rod
  • hot rod

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin