sprinkler

Etymology

It is formed from English sprinkle + -er.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The OED takes the verb as apparently borrowed from the Middle Dutch element -sprinkelen, found in besprinkelen, a derivative of sprengen, later influenced by Middle Dutch sprenkel (“speckle, spot”);^[2] Etymonline describes it as a frequentative of Middle English sprengen, cognate with or influenced by Dutch sprenkelen and German sprenkeln.^[3] For the holy-water implement the OED compares the earlier nouns sprinkle and sprink.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A container or device for sprinkling water, perfume or other substances: 1535, in the Coverdale Bible.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to the 1530s,^[3] and Dictionary.com to 1525–35.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Before the agent noun, the noun sprinkle was used from the late 14th century for a sprinkler for holy water;^[3] sprinkler took over that use from 1577, for a brush or a small perforated container on a handle, the aspergillum.^[2] From 1603 it also meant a person who sprinkles something,^[2] the only sense Johnson gave in 1773;^[7] it was used from 1653 for a minister who baptized by sprinkling water on the head rather than by immersion, or a supporter of that practice.^[2] In Lancashire dialect a sprinkler was a person sprinkled at baptism.^[8] The 19th century brought the machines: a vehicle for watering roads or fields from 1832 (Etymonline has the road-watering machine by 1879),^[2][3] a fire-protection system of perforated pipes from 1865, and a revolving or oscillating device for watering lawns and gardens from before 1884.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged adds mining and sewage-works uses, and a verb sprinkler, to fit a building with a sprinkler system.^[5]

Timeline

• 1535 – a container or device for sprinkling water or other liquids.^[2][3]
• 1577 – an implement for sprinkling holy water.^[2]
• 1603 – a person who sprinkles something.^[2]
• 1653 – a minister who baptizes by sprinkling, or a supporter of the practice.^[2]
• 1832 – a machine or vehicle for watering roads or fields.^[2] Etymonline dates the road-watering machine to 1879.^[3]
• 1865 – a fire-protection system of perforated pipes.^[2]
• before 1884 – a device for watering lawns or gardens.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A device that sprays water over a lawn or garden, often fixed to a hose: He moved the sprinkler to the far corner of the yard.^[9][5][2]
2. One of the nozzles of an automatic fire-protection system that release water when heated, or the system itself; a sprinkler system.^[9][5][2]
3. A vehicle or attachment for watering streets or roads.^[5][2]
4. A person or thing that sprinkles.^[9][5][7]
5. An implement for sprinkling holy water; an aspergillum.^[2][4]

Verb

1. To fit a building with a sprinkler system.^[5]

Word family

• sprinkler system

Related words

• sprinkle
• besprinkle
• aspergillum

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 q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ 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)
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins