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rook

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Etymology and origin of the English word rook

Pronunciation

rook1 bird; cheat

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 725 Corpus Glossary
Inherited from
Proto-Germanic *hrōk via Middle English, Old English
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *hrōkaz

Etymology

The bird is inherited from Middle English rok, also roke,[2][3][4][5] inherited from Old English hrōc (“rook, raven, jackdaw”),[6][2][3][7] inherited from Proto-West Germanic *hrōk, from Proto-Germanic *hrōkaz.[2] Kroonen reconstructs it as *hrōka(n)-, rook or jackdaw.[8] It is cognate with Old Saxon hrōk, Middle Low German rōk, Middle Dutch roec, Dutch roek, Old High German hruoh (“crow”) and Old Norse hrókr.[6][3][9][4][8] Most dictionaries consider it imitative of the bird's harsh call;[2][9][10][4][11] the OED takes it back to the same base as Latin crōciō (“to croak”), and compares Gothic 𐌷𐍂𐌿𐌺𐌾𐌰𐌽 (hrukjan, “to crow”).[6][5] The verb "to cheat" is formed within English from the noun in its sense "cheat, swindler".[6][2][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The bird: in the early Old English Corpus Glossary,[6] about 725 in Barnhart's dating.[3] The OED also notes the word early in place names such as Rokeby and Rockbeare, recorded in 1086, and in Anglo-Saxon charter bounds.[6] The Middle English form roc appears about 1200 and rook before 1325.[3]

Semantic evolution

From the early 16th century the bird's name was applied to people: first, in Dunbar, as a term of abuse for a disreputable, greedy or slovenly person,[6][10][2] and later, in the 1560s, to a cheat or swindler, especially at cards or dice.[6][2][12] Weekley compares the figurative senses of hawk and pigeon,[13] and Green's Dictionary of Slang explains the sense by the bird's supposed thievishness.[12] By 1600 the word could also mean the opposite, a fool or gull who is easily cheated, a sense that died out by about 1640.[6][2][10] The verb, to cheat or swindle, followed in the 1590s, in the play Sir Thomas More,[6][12][2] and in Scotland it came to mean to plunder a place or rob a bird's nest (1700).[6] In slang a rook was also a clergyman, from the black clothing (1859),[6] and a crowbar (1788 to 1882), as with crow.[6][10]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – the bird, Old English hrōc.[6][3]
  • before 1513 – a disreputable or greedy person (now obsolete).[6][10]
  • before 1568 – a cheat or swindler, especially at gambling.[6] Green's Dictionary of Slang has it in 1577.[12]
  • before 1595 – verb, to cheat or swindle.[6][5]
  • 1600 – a gull, a fool who is easily cheated (obsolete by 1639).[6]
  • 1700 – Scottish, to plunder; to rob a nest.[6]
  • 1788 – slang, a crowbar (obsolete).[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A large black Eurasian bird of the crow family, Corvus frugilegus, with bare whitish skin at the base of the bill, that nests in colonies in treetops.[14][5][6]
  2. (slang) A cheat or swindler, especially at cards.[14][5][6]
  3. (obsolete, 1600–1639) A foolish person who is easily deceived; a gull.[6][5][10]

Verb

  1. (slang) To cheat, swindle or overcharge someone: The tourists felt they had been rooked by the taxi driver.[14][5][6]

Word family

  • rookery
  • rooky
  • rookish
  • rooker

rook2 chess piece

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1330 Guy of Warwick (Auchinleck manuscript)
Borrowed from
Anglo-Norman roc via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Persian رخ

Etymology

The chess piece is inherited from Middle English rok, also roke,[2][3][5] borrowed from Anglo-Norman roc and Middle French roc,[6][5] from Arabic رُخّ (ruḵḵ),[6][2][3][15] from Persian رخ (ruḵ), a name of unknown meaning.[6][2][3] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from the late 12th century, for the corner piece of the chessboard.[16] The American Heritage Dictionary traces the Persian word through Middle Persian rox to a Middle Indic word for a chariot, ultimately Sanskrit रथ (ratha, “chariot”), the piece having been a chariot in the early chess of India;[15] the OED also considers this derivation likely, perhaps with influence from the Persian and Arabic name of the roc, and notes that the most common medieval shape of the piece can be read as a stylized pair of horses.[6] Etymonline is more cautious, saying only that the name is perhaps related to the Indian name for the piece.[2] Related forms are Medieval Latin rocus, Spanish roque, Italian rocco and Catalan roc.[6][2][13] In Middle English the word was confused with roc, the mythical bird.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

One of the four pieces set at the corners of the chessboard: about 1330, in the Auchinleck manuscript of Guy of Warwick.[6] Barnhart finds the form roke probably before 1300, and Etymonline dates the word to about 1300.[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The chess sense has not changed since Middle English.[6][10] The piece is also called a castle because of its shape,[3][5] and a verb rook, meaning to castle, was recorded in 1850, after French roquer.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 1330 – a chess piece set in a corner square.[6] Barnhart has roke probably before 1300.[3]
  • before 1430 – the spelling rook.[3]
  • 1850 – verb, to castle in chess (obsolete).[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A chess piece, usually shaped like a tower, that moves any number of unoccupied squares in a straight line along a rank or file; a castle.[14][5][6]

Word family

  • rookwise

References

  1. ^ 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  8. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  9. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  13. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  14. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  15. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  16. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)

Related etymologies

  • ale · also from Proto-Germanic
  • strand · also from Proto-Germanic
  • wander · also from Proto-Germanic
  • spur · also from Proto-Germanic
  • forbid · also from Proto-Germanic
  • snail · also from Proto-Germanic
  • wed · also from Proto-Germanic
  • bladder · also from Proto-Germanic
Cite this entry

“Rook.” Etymologically, 2 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/rook. Accessed 2 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·