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stud

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English has two nouns spelled stud with separate Old English origins: one meaning a post or knob, from studu, and one meaning a place where horses are bred, from stōd.[1][2][3][4][5]

Pronunciation

stud1 post, knob

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English stode, inherited from Old English studu (“pillar, prop, post”),[2][1][7][3][8] inherited from Proto-Germanic *stuþs.[1][3] Its cognates are Middle High German stud (“post, prop”), Old Norse stoð (“post”), Swedish stöd (“support”) and Danish stød,[9][3][2][8] and it is related to German stützen (“to prop, support”).[10][8][4] The OED compares Latvian stute (“support, pole”) and takes the word from a suffixed form of the Indo-European base of stow;[9] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster also connect it with stōw (“place”),[1][2][3] and the AHD and Etymonline with the root Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand”).[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A wooden post or upright prop: Old English, in the translation of Bede's Ecclesiastical History;[9] Barnhart dates the Old English word to about 850.[3] Middle English used it for one of the upright timbers of a wall, as in studewerk (1277).[3][9]

Semantic evolution

The upright timbers of a timber-framed wall remained the main sense,[9][8] and in North America the word was used from 1647 for the height of a room from floor to ceiling, a use later found in New Zealand.[9] Figuratively a person could be the stud or support of an institution (before 1500 to 1652),[9] and in East Anglia and Kent dialect it still meant a prop or support, for example the feet of a trug basket.[11] The sense "ornamental knob of metal on a belt or bridle" appears in 1420,[9][4] and led to "any boss or nail head projecting from a surface";[9][12] Johnson (1755) defined it as a nail with a large head driven for ornament.[13] A detachable button for a shirt front or collar is recorded from the 16th century.[4] The verb, to build with studs, dates from 1448,[9] and "to set with studs" from 1570, with Barnhart dating it from 1505–06;[9][14] the extended "to dot or scatter over", as in studded with, is found from before 1635,[9] with Etymonline dating the general use by 1790.[1] Since 1849 a stud has also been the crossbar in a link of chain cable.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 850 – studu, a post or prop.[3]
  • 1277 – studewerk, upright timbers.[3]
  • 1420 – an ornamental metal knob.[9]
  • 1448 – verb, to build with studs.[9]
  • 1570 – verb, to ornament with studs.[9]
  • 1647 – (North America) the height of a room.[9]
  • 1849 – (nautical) the crossbar of a chain link.[9]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A knob, rivet or large-headed nail that projects from a surface, especially for decoration.
  2. A small earring on a short post passed through the ear.
  3. A two-headed fastener used to fix a collar or shirt front.
  4. One of the small projections on the sole of a sports boot, giving better grip.
  5. One of the upright timber or metal posts in the frame of a wall.

Verb

  1. To decorate, cover or fit with studs: a leather jacket studded with brass.
  2. To dot or scatter over a surface: a coastline studded with small harbours.

stud2 horses kept for breeding

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English stod, inherited from Old English stōd (“stud, herd of horses”),[2][1][7][3][4] inherited from Proto-Germanic *stōdą.[1][15][16] Its cognates are Middle Low German stōt, Old High German stuot (“herd of horses”), Old Norse stóð and Dutch stoet (“procession, retinue”), and the same word gave German Stute (“mare”).[9][1][15][8] Outside Germanic it is close to Old Church Slavonic стадо (stado, “herd, flock”) and Lithuanian stodas (“flock of horses”).[15][17][16] Kroonen derives the group from the root Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand”) with a noun suffix,[15] and Klein and Ayto explain the original sense as "a standing place for horses";[17][5] the word is related to stand and steed.[8][5][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

A place where horses are kept for breeding, or the horses kept there: Old English, in the will of Ælfhelm,[9] and about 1000 in Ælfric's Glossary.[3] In Middle English stod meare was a brood mare (probably before 1200).[3]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word could also mean horses in general (?1316–1500) and a breed or race of animals or people (?c1335–1750),[9][8] and in Scots a single brood mare.[9] From the 17th century it named the horses bred by or belonging to one owner (before 1661), and figuratively a group of people working for someone (before 1625).[9][4] Use for a single stallion is first American (1803), and for other male breeding animals dates from 1911.[9] Stud poker, a game in which some cards are dealt face up, is recorded from 1884.[9][18] The slang sense, a man noted for his sexual prowess, is first recorded in an East Anglian glossary of 1895,[9][11] and in American usage, especially African American, it also meant simply "a man, a guy" from 1909.[9][19] American slang also used stud as an adjective meaning "excellent" from 1903.[19]

Timeline

  • Old English – a stud of horses.[9][3]
  • before 1200 – stod meare, a brood mare.[3]
  • before 1661 – the horses of one owner.[9]
  • 1803 – (US) a stallion.[9]
  • 1884 – (cards) stud poker.[9]
  • 1895 – (slang) a sexually successful man.[9]
  • 1909 – (US slang) a man, a guy.[9][19]
  • 1911 – any male animal kept for breeding.[9]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A farm or establishment where horses or other animals are kept for breeding; also the animals kept there.
  2. A stallion or other male animal kept for breeding: The colt was retired to stud.
  3. (slang) A man regarded as sexually attractive or active.
  4. Short for stud poker.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  2. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d e f Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  6. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  7. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ 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)
  12. ^ a b 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. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  15. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  16. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  17. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  18. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  19. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com