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Etymology and origin of the English word sock

English has two main words spelled sock: the short stocking, which goes back to Old English, and the slang verb and noun for a hard blow, recorded from the end of the 17th century.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

sock1 short stocking

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
800 before 800, Corpus Glossary
Borrowed from
Latin soccus via Middle English, Old English
Ultimate origin
Latin soccus
Etymology tree of sock1
inherited borrowed derived
Latin soccus
English sock

Etymology

The short stocking is inherited from Middle English sok, also socke and sokke,[5][3][6] inherited from Old English socc (“a light shoe, slipper”),[7][2][8][9] an early borrowed from Latin soccus (“a light low-heeled shoe, slipper”).[2][9][7][10] Klein and Barnhart take the Latin word from Ancient Greek σύκχος (súkkhos), a kind of shoe,[6][2] which Etymonline and Klein think came from Phrygian or another Asiatic language;[7][6] Barnhart and Klein compare Avestan haxa- (“sole of the foot”).[2][6] The American Heritage Dictionary calls the Greek source only possible.[11] According to Ayto the Latin word was borrowed into prehistoric Germanic,[1] and the same loan gave Middle Dutch socke, Old High German soc, German Socke, Dutch sok and Old Norse sokkr.[2][9][7] The Latin diminutive gave English socle.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A light shoe or slipper: Old English socc glosses Latin soccus in the Corpus Glossary, from before 800.[9][2][8]

Semantic evolution

The sense "short stocking, half-hose" is first recorded in 1327, and Barnhart dates it to about 1330;[9][2] an early Middle English quotation already speaks of socks worn inside shoes.[5] The older sense "light shoe" faded and is now rare or obsolete.[9][3] From 1597 the word was also used, after Latin, for the low shoe of comic actors on the Greek and Roman stage, and so stood for comedy itself, opposed to the tragic buskin in the phrase sock and buskin.[9][7][12] Johnson (1755) defined it as "something put between the foot and shoe".[13] The colloquial phrases are mostly American and recent: knock the socks off someone, to beat them thoroughly, is recorded from 1845,[7] pull one's socks up from the late 19th century and put a sock in it, be quiet, from the early 20th.[14][7] A sock used to hide one's money is alluded to by 1930,[7][9] which led to the verb sock away, to save money, in 1942.[7][9] The sock of an airfield, short for windsock, dates from 1933.[9]

Timeline

  • before 800 – Old English socc, a light shoe or slipper.[2][9]
  • 1327 – a short stocking.[9]
  • 1597 – the shoe of a comic actor; comedy.[9]
  • 1845 – knock the socks off, to beat thoroughly.[7]
  • 1893 – white sock, a white marking on a horse's leg.[9]
  • 1897 – verb, to provide with socks.[9]
  • 1930 – a sock used to store money.[9][7]
  • 1933 – short for windsock.[9]
  • 1942 – verb, to put money aside as savings.[9][7]
  • 1950 – of fog or cloud, to close in (sock in).[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A knitted or woven covering for the foot, reaching above the ankle and sometimes to the knee, worn inside a shoe: He bought three pairs of wool socks for the hike.[15][3][9]
  2. A windsock.[15][3][9]
  3. The light shoe worn by comic actors in ancient Greece and Rome, and hence comedy, as in sock and buskin.[15][3][9]
  4. knock someone's socks off: to astonish or greatly impress someone.[15][7]
  5. pull one's socks up: (British, informal) to make an effort to do better.[15][14]
  6. put a sock in it: (informal) to stop talking.[7][14]
  7. (archaic) A low shoe or slipper.[3][9]

Verb

  1. sock away: to put money aside as savings: She socked away part of every paycheck.[9][7][10]
  2. sock in: of fog or cloud, to close in on a place so that aircraft cannot fly.[9][10]
  3. To provide with socks or put socks on.[3][9]

Word family

  • sockless
  • socklessness
  • windsock
  • bobby socks
  • knee sock
  • crew sock

sock2 hard blow

Confidence
Unknown
First attested
1699 B. E., New Dictionary of the Canting Crew

Etymology

The verb meaning to hit hard is of unknown origin.[9][1][16][12][17] Etymonline and Partridge suggest it is imitative, like bop, smack and slog,[7][18] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged takes it as probably Scandinavian, related to Old Norse sökkva (“to sink; to cause to sink”) and so to sink.[3] The noun, a blow, is from or related to the verb.[7][10][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To beat or drub: the verb and the noun "a blow" are first recorded together in B. E.'s New Dictionary of the Canting Crew (about 1698), with the example "I'll Sock ye", I'll drub you soundly.[17][9][2]

Semantic evolution

The word began in thieves' cant, and Weekley still classed it as cant.[17][12] In the 19th century it spread in American use: to sock it to someone, to strike them hard, is recorded from 1877,[7][9] and later became a catchphrase for making a strong impression.[9][10] The intransitive sense "to deliver blows" dates from 1856.[9] In American slang the noun came to mean force or punch (1936),[9][3] and an adjective sock, excellent or highly successful, appears in 1938.[17][3] Extended forms followed: socko by 1924 and sockeroo by 1942.[7] In English dialects from Westmorland to Hampshire it meant to beat or to throw hard at something.[19]

Timeline

  • c. 1698 – verb, to beat; noun, a blow (thieves' cant).[17][9]
  • 1856 – intransitive, to strike out, deliver blows.[9]
  • 1877 – sock it to someone.[9][7]
  • 1924 – socko.[7]
  • 1927 – jazz, to play music in a swinging style.[9]
  • 1936 – noun, strong impact, punch (US).[9]
  • 1938 – adjective, excellent, highly successful.[17]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To hit or punch hard: He socked the bully on the nose.[3][9][10]
  2. sock it to: to attack or affect someone forcefully; to make a strong impression on someone.[9][10]
  3. To deliver a blow.[3][9]

Noun

  1. A hard blow, especially with the fist.[3][9][10]
  2. (US) Force, impact or punch.[3][9][10]

Adjective

  1. (slang) Highly successful or excellent: a sock performance.[3][17]
  • socle
  • buskin

Usage notes

Several minor words share the spelling.[9][3] The Scottish sock, a ploughshare, is borrowed from Old French soc, perhaps of Celtic origin, and is related to socket.[9][3][5] Eton slang had sock for food, especially sweets, of unknown origin,[9][10][12] and in Dorset and Somerset sock meant to sigh, probably imitative.[19][9][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  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 o p q r s Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  6. ^ a b c d e Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  9. ^ 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 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  12. ^ a b c d Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  14. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  15. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  16. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  17. ^ a b c d e f g Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  18. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  19. ^ a b 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)

Related etymologies

  • hint · also from Old English
  • reed · also from Old English
  • nest · also from Old English
  • lo · also from Old English
  • inn · also from Old English
  • toe · also from Old English
  • span · also from Old English
  • ninth · also from Old English
Cite this entry

“Sock.” Etymologically, 26 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/sock. Accessed 26 Oct. 2026.

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