sticker

Etymology

It is formed from English stick + -er, an agent noun from the verb stick in the senses "to pierce" and "to adhere".^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

Earliest recorded meaning

A person or thing that sticks to something, or stays loyal to a person or cause: about 1542, in Taverner's On Saynt Andrewes Day Gospels.^[2] Etymonline dates the word from the 1580s, as one who or that which sticks or stabs,^[4] and the OED's first record of a stabber or butcher is from before 1585;^[2] the Shorter Oxford dates the butcher sense to the late 15th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Both senses of the verb gave colloquial uses: from "one who sticks" came a horse with staying power (1779), an unwelcome guest or an unsold commodity (1824), in cricket a cautious batter who is hard to get out (1832), and in the United States a burr or thorn that clings to clothing (1889);^[2][3][7] in Cheshire and West Yorkshire a sticker was a persevering or hard-working person.^[8] From "one who stabs" came a knife or other stabbing weapon (1772),^[2][7] while being stuck for an answer gave a puzzling or awkward question, first in Thackeray's Pendennis (1849).^[2][4][7] The modern main sense, a small gummed label or notice, is first recorded in the United States in 1862 (1871 in Etymonline),^[2][4] and in criminals' slang a sticker was a postage stamp from 1863.^[2] The verb, to put a sticker on something, followed in 1912, after an American political use of 1889, putting a sticker with an unlisted candidate's name on a ballot paper.^[2] Sticker shock, dismay at a high price, is North American.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1542 – one who sticks to something or stays loyal.^[2]
• before 1585 – one who stabs, a butcher.^[2]
• 1772 – a knife or stabbing weapon.^[2]
• 1779 – a horse with staying power.^[2]
• 1832 – in cricket, a defensive batter.^[2]
• 1849 – a puzzling or awkward question.^[2][7]
• 1862 – an adhesive label or notice.^[2]
• 1863 – slang, a postage stamp.^[2]
• 1889 – US, a burr or thorn.^[2][7]
• 1912 – verb, to put stickers on.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A small piece of paper or plastic with adhesive on one side and a picture or words on the other, used as a label, notice or decoration: The child covered her notebook with stickers.
2. A person who keeps on at something; a persistent person.
3. (informal) A puzzling or awkward problem or question.
4. (informal) A knife or other weapon used for stabbing.
5. (US, informal) A burr or thorn that clings to clothing.
6. A person who kills animals by stabbing them, as in a slaughterhouse.
7. A thin strip of wood laid between stacked boards to let air through as they dry.

Verb

1. To put a sticker or stickers on something.

Word family

• bumper sticker
• sticker shock
• frog sticker

Related words

• stick
• sticky

Usage notes

The OED and the Shorter Oxford treat sticker "a gatherer of sticks for firewood", recorded from 1422 to 1821, as a separate formation from the noun stick, with the later forestry sense of a spacing strip of wood;^[2][3] Etymonline records stikker "gatherer of sticks" in the early 15th century and as a surname in the late 13th.^[4][2]

References

1. ^ a b 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 u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
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)