rug

Etymology

Most dictionaries take it as a borrowing from a Scandinavian language.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]} Etymonline and Wiktionary derive it borrowed from Old Norse rǫgg (“shaggy tuft”), from Proto-Germanic *rawwō (“long wool”),^[9][1] and the others compare the Norwegian dialect word rugga (“coarse coverlet”) and Swedish rugg (“ruffled or coarse hair”).^{[2][4][6][10][8]} It would then be related to rag and rugged,^{[2][4][11][7]} and Etymonline and Klein also connect rough.^[9][5] The revised OED (2011) calls the origin uncertain: it grants that the Norwegian and Swedish words are close parallels, probably from a variant of the base of rag, but notes that the English word lacks the regional spread typical of Scandinavian loans and shows no trace of the doubled consonant once taken as evidence for it.^[12] Ayto notes that the original meaning, rough woollen cloth, fits a link with shagginess.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

A kind of coarse woollen cloth, often made in Ireland and common in the 16th and 17th centuries: 1547, in W. Salesbury's English–Welsh dictionary.^[12][10] Barnhart and Etymonline date it to 1551–52 and the 1550s.^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

From the cloth the word passed to a thick woollen blanket or wrap, used as bedding or on journeys (1591),^[12][2][9] and to a horse blanket (1790).^[12] The OED records a small carpet or floor mat as early as 1624, in J. Smith's Generall Historie of Virginia,^[12] though Barnhart and Etymonline date the floor sense to 1808, in Jane Austen's letters,^[2][9] and Ayto and the Oxford Dictionary of English place it in the early 19th century.^[11][6] The verb, to cover with a rug, especially a horse, follows in 1818.^[12][10] In slang a rug is a man's toupee, from 1908 in Green's Dictionary of Slang, or 1940 in the OED, in J. O'Hara's Pal Joey,^[13][12][2] and a thick growth of chest hair from 1954.^[12][13] Etymonline dates pull the rug out from under someone to 1936, in American English, rug-cutter, a skilled dancer, to 1938, cut a rug, to dance, to 1942, and sweep under the rug, to hide something, to 1954.^[9]

Timeline

• 1547 – a coarse woollen cloth.^[12][10]
• 1591 – a thick woollen blanket or wrap.^[12][2]
• 1624 – a small carpet or mat (OED).^[12]
• 1790 – a horse blanket.^[12]
• 1808 – a mat for the floor (Barnhart, Etymonline).^[2][9]
• 1818 – verb, to cover with a rug.^[12][10]
• 1908 – slang, a toupee.^[13]
• 1936 – pull the rug out from under.^[9]
• 1942 – cut a rug, to dance.^[9]
• 1954 – a thick growth of chest hair.^[12]
• 1954 – sweep under the rug.^[9]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A piece of thick, heavy fabric or animal skin, smaller than a carpet, laid on part of a floor: a sheepskin rug in front of the fire.
2. (chiefly British) A thick woollen blanket or wrap, as for the knees on a journey.
3. A blanket for a horse.
4. (slang) A wig or toupee.
5. pull the rug out from under: to take away someone's support suddenly; to betray or leave defenceless.

Verb

1. To cover with a rug, especially to put a rug on a horse.

Word family

• ruglike
• hearthrug
• rug-cutter
• area rug
• scatter rug
• oriental rug
• prayer rug
• rag rug

Related words

• rag
• rugged
• rough

Usage notes

Scots and northern English also have a verb rug, to pull or tug, from before 1325, probably from a Scandinavian source,^[12] and in thieves' cant from the late 17th to the 19th century all rug meant safe or secure.^[13][12]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com