Etymologically
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taker

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Pronunciation

  • US: /ˈteɪkɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English take + -er, an agent noun from the verb.[2][3][4] The Merriam-Webster Unabridged traces it to Middle English, from taken (“to take”) and the suffix.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who protects or upholds another, a sense now obsolete: about 1350, in a Middle English Psalter.[2][3] Etymonline dates the general sense "one who takes" to the late 14th century.[4]

Semantic evolution

The word has always followed the senses of take.[2] After the early sense of a protector, it meant from 1421 a person who captures or seizes someone or something, a captor or conqueror,[2][4][5] and, beginning in 1423, an officer who requisitioned provisions for a royal household, a purveyor.[2][3] In law it was used from about 1450 of a person who takes possession of land, especially by a lease,[2][5] and in Derbyshire lead-mining of the miner who took the next claim after the finder.[2][6] From the early 16th century a taker could also be a robber or thief,[2][5][3] and in 16th-century criminal slang the taker or taker-up was the member of a gang who drew a victim into a crooked gambling game.[7] Johnson (1755) gave simply "he that takes".[8] The modern sense of a person who accepts something offered began in betting: a taker was one who accepted a bet at given odds (1808),[2][4] and later anyone who accepts an offer or challenge, as in there were no takers.[2] On the stock market it is used of a buyer of an option (1899).[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1350 – a person who protects or upholds another (obsolete by 1606).[2]
  • 1421 – a captor, catcher, or conqueror.[2][4]
  • 1423 – an officer who requisitions provisions for a royal household (now historical).[2]
  • before 1425 – a person who takes something, in the general senses of the verb; a recipient.[2]
  • c. 1450 – in law, a person who takes possession of land or takes out a lease.[2]
  • before 1513 – a robber or thief, in W. Dunbar's poems.[2]
  • 1552 – slang taker-up, a cheat who lures a victim into a crooked dice game.[7]
  • 1808 – a person who accepts a bet; later, one who accepts any offer.[2] Etymonline dates the betting sense by 1810.[4]
  • 1899 – on the stock market, a buyer of an option.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A person or thing that takes something, in any sense of the verb: a taker of risks.[5][2]
  2. A person who accepts an offer, a bet or a challenge: The prize was there, but there were no takers.[2][4]
  3. A person who captures or seizes something; a captor.[5][2]
  4. (law) A person who takes possession of property, especially of land by a lease.[5][2]
  5. (obsolete) A person who takes things wrongfully; a thief or robber.[5][2][3]

Word family

  • taking
  • take
  • undertaker
  • partaker

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 u v w x 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 f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ 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)
  7. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.