Etymologically
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screw

Etymology and origin of the English word screw

History Permalink
Confidence
Uncertain
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1404
Borrowed from
Middle French escroue

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈskɹuː/ (UK); /ˈskɹu/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English scrwe, skrewe, borrowed from Middle French escroue (“nut, cylindrical socket, screw-hole”),[2][3][4][5] of uncertain origin.[3][6] Barnhart derives it from Gallo-Romance *scrōba, from Latin scrobis (“ditch, hole”), influenced by scrōfa (“breeding sow”),[2] and Kluge, Watkins and MWU from scrōfa, which in Medieval Latin meant a female screw, perhaps from a resemblance to the furrows a rooting pig leaves.[3][5][4] The Germanic forms, such as German Schraube, were probably borrowed from French.[2][3] The spelling -ew was influenced by words such as dew and flew.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A cylinder with a spiral ridge, originally an apparatus for lifting weights or pressing: 1404.[2][7][3]

Semantic evolution

The screw was counted one of the mechanical powers from 1570.[7] The metal pin with a spiral thread for joining wood or metal is by the 1620s.[3] The screws, an instrument of torture, is from 1663,[7] and a means of pressure or coercion from 1648–49.[2][7] The verb, to twist like a screw, is from 1599, in Ben Jonson,[2] to fasten with a screw from the 1610s,[3] and to oppress from the 1620s.[3] The slang sense to copulate is from at least 1725,[3][6] and to cheat from 1900.[3] Screw up meant to raise a rent exorbitantly in the 1630s and to blunder from 1942;[3] Word Origins calls it a US euphemism.[6] A prison warder is a screw in British slang.[8] The screwdriver is from 1779.[2]

Timeline

  • 1404 – a screw for lifting or pressing.[2][7]
  • 1599 – the verb.[2]
  • 1620s – a wood or metal screw.[3]
  • 1648 – a means of pressure.[2]
  • 1725 – to copulate.[3]
  • 1942 – screw up, to blunder.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A metal pin with a spiral thread and a slotted head, turned to fasten things together.
  2. A propeller, especially of a ship.
  3. A turn or twist of a screw.
  4. (British slang) A prison warder.
  5. (vulgar slang) An act of sexual intercourse.

Verb

  1. To fasten or tighten with a screw, or by turning.
  2. To twist out of shape; to contort: screw up one's face.
  3. (slang) To cheat or swindle.
  4. (vulgar slang) To have sexual intercourse with.
  5. screw up (slang): to make a mess of.

Word family

  • screwable
  • screwer
  • screwlike
  • screwless
  • screw-off
  • screw-top
  • jackscrew
  • leadscrew
  • screwdriver
  • scrofula
  • corkscrew
  • screwball

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Screw.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/screw. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·