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stick

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English has two words spelled stick, both from Old English: the noun, a slender piece of wood, and the verb, “to pierce, to adhere”.[1][2] They are probably connected, the basic idea being one of piercing or pricking.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /stɪk/[4]

stick1 piece of wood

Etymology

The piece of wood is inherited from Middle English stikke,[5][6] inherited from Old English sticca (“twig, rod, peg, spoon”),[6][3][2] from Proto-West Germanic *stikkō,[2] from the Germanic base *stik- (“to pierce, prick”),[3][2] from Proto-Indo-European *steig- (“to stick; pointed”).[6] It is cognate with Dutch stek “cutting”, German Stecken “staff” and Old Norse stika “stick, yardstick”.[3][2][7] If so, it first meant a sharp stick, perhaps pointed for a purpose.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A short piece of wood, and a slender twig or branch: about 1000.[3][8]

Semantic evolution

A cudgel or staff used as a weapon is from the mid-12th century,[6] as is sticks and stones, at first meaning every part of a building.[6] A stick-shaped piece of rolled material, as of cinnamon, is from the late 15th century.[6] The stick used to push or strike a ball in a game is from the 1670s, first in billiards.[6] A stiff, awkward or dull person is from about 1800,[6] a conductor's baton from 1849,[6] and a gear lever from 1914.[6] Hoad dates the general sense “object in long, slender form” to the 15th century.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1000 – a piece of wood; a twig.[3][8]
  • mid-12th century – a cudgel, and sticks and stones.[6]
  • late 15th century – a stick of cinnamon.[6]
  • 1670s – a stick for a ball game.[6]
  • c. 1800 – a stiff, awkward person.[6]
  • 1849 – a conductor's baton.[6]
  • 1914 – a gear lever.[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A long, slender piece of wood, as a twig cut from a tree.
  2. A cane or walking stick; a club or baton.
  3. A long, thin piece of something: a stick of celery.
  4. An implement for striking a ball, as in hockey.
  5. A gear lever or joystick.
  6. (informal) Criticism or punishment: to take stick.

Word family

  • stick figure
  • stick insect
  • walking stick
  • yardstick
  • drumstick
  • joystick
  • chopstick

stick2 pierce; adhere

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English stiken,[3][6] inherited from Old English stician (“to pierce, stab; to remain fixed”),[6][2] from Proto-Germanic *stekaną (“to pierce, prick”),[6][2] from Proto-Indo-European *steig- (“to stick; pointed”),[6][2] also the source of Latin īnstīgāre (“to goad”) and of Greek stízein “to prick” and stigma.[6][2] It is cognate with Dutch steken and German stechen “to stab”.[6][5] Some have tried to connect it with the root of sting, but Boutkan finds “formal problems”.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

To stab or pierce with a weapon: before 900 in the OED,[8] probably before 1200 as stiken in Layamon's Brut in Barnhart.[3] Old English already had “to remain embedded, stay fixed”.[6][2]

Semantic evolution

From piercing came the sense of putting something where it will remain, with or without penetration.[6] “To fasten in place” is from the late 13th century,[6] and “to cause to adhere” from the 13th century.[2] “To remain in the mind” is from about 1300,[6] and “to persist, insist” from the mid-15th century.[6] Stick out, “to protrude”, is from the 1560s.[6] Slang stick around, “to remain”, is from 1912,[6] stick it as rude advice by 1922,[6] and sticking point from 1956.[6] Sticky is from the late 17th century,[1] and a sticky end is first found in a 1904 account of an American baseball game.[1] The past tense is stuck.[9][10]

Timeline

  • before 900 – to stab, pierce.[8]
  • late 13th century – to fasten in place.[6]
  • c. 1300 – to stay in the mind.[6]
  • mid-15th century – to persist.[6]
  • 1560s – stick out.[6]
  • 1912 – stick around.[6]
  • 1956 – sticking point.[6]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To pierce or puncture with something pointed; to stab.
  2. To push a pointed thing into something.
  3. To fasten or adhere with glue or a similar substance.
  4. To remain attached or in place; to become fixed or jammed.
  5. (informal) To put: stick it on the table.
  6. stick to: to keep to a plan or principle.
  7. (informal) To tolerate: I can't stick it.

Word family

  • sticker
  • sticky
  • stuck
  • stick-up
  • stick-in-the-mud
  • stake
  • stitch
  • stigma
  • instigate
  • distinguish
  • etiquette
  • ticket
  • sting

Usage notes

In printing, a stick (composing stick) holds set type,[6] and in the OED a separate stick is a measure of small eels, recorded from 1086.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  5. ^ a b 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 36 37 38 39 40 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  10. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster