truncheon

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English tronchoun, also tronsoun and trunchon,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French tronchon (“a piece cut off, thick stick, stump”), also spelled tronçon, with Anglo-Norman trunçun.^[5][6][3][2] The modern French is tronçon.^[7][4] The French word is recorded from the 11th century,^[5][3] and in Anglo-Norman from the second quarter of the 12th, with the senses fragment, spear shaft and staff.^[8] It goes back to Vulgar Latin *trunciō,^[9][6][3] from Latin truncus (“trunk, stem”),^[9][6][5] also the source of trunk.^[7][3] Weekley took it as a diminutive of tronc.^[10] Klein compares Old Occitan tronson, Spanish troncón and Italian truncone.^[4] The verb is borrowed from French tronçonner, formed on the French noun.^[5][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

A piece broken off: about 1330, in the Seven Sages, "Of þe adder he fond mani tronsoun".^[5][2] The fragment of a spear and the short club both appear in Bevis of Hampton of the same date,^[5][2] and the spear shaft in Guy of Warwick.^[5] Barnhart finds the shaft of a spear probably before 1300, in Kyng Alisaunder,^[6] and Etymonline has about 1300.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The senses of fragment, spear shaft and short club are all there in the first records,^[5] and the broken lance is still the meaning in Malory's "the truncheon of the speare".^[2] The staff as a symbol of command is recorded from 1573,^[5] and Johnson (1755) quotes Shakespeare's "marshal's truncheon" in that sense.^[12] Etymonline dates the policeman's club by 1816,^[3] which has become the usual meaning, chiefly in Britain.^[13][5] Some senses went with the plant: the stem of a tree, in Pecock about 1449, and a thick cutting for planting, from 1572.^[5][11] A short thick worm in horses was also so called from 1440 to 1748.^[5][11] The verb first meant to break in pieces (1477, in Caxton) and was also the proper term for carving an eel;^[5][11] "to beat with a truncheon" is from Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 2, which the OED dates 1600 and Merriam-Webster Unabridged about 1598.^[5][14][12] In slang it has meant the penis since 1700,^[15] and in the West Riding of Yorkshire the stomach.^[16]

Timeline

• c. 1330 – a fragment, especially of a spear; the shaft of a spear.^[5][2]
• c. 1330 – a short thick staff, a club.^[5]
• 1440 – an intestinal worm of horses (obsolete by 1748).^[5]
• c. 1449 – the stem of a tree (obsolete).^[5]
• 1477 – verb, to break in pieces (obsolete by 1500).^[5]
• 1486 – verb, to carve an eel (obsolete by 1853).^[5]
• 1572 – a thick cutting from a plant.^[5]
• 1573 – a staff as a symbol of office or authority.^[5][3]
• 1600 – verb, to beat with a truncheon.^[5]
• 1700 – slang, the penis.^[15]
• 1816 – a policeman's club.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A short thick club carried by a police officer; chiefly British.^[13][14][5]
2. A staff carried as a symbol of office or command; a baton: the field marshal's truncheon.^[13][14][5]
3. (archaic) A broken piece, especially of a spear or lance.^[14][5][11]
4. (archaic) The shaft of a spear.^[13][5][11]
5. (archaic) A short club or cudgel.^[13][14][5]
6. (rare) A thick cutting from a plant, for planting or grafting.^[5][11]
7. (slang) The penis.^[15]
8. (obsolete, 1440–1748) A short thick intestinal worm of horses.^[5][11]

Verb

1. To beat with a truncheon.^[13][14][5]
2. (obsolete, 1477–1500) To break in pieces.^[5][11]
3. (obsolete, 1486–1853) To carve an eel.^[5][11]

Word family

• truncheoned
• truncheoner

Related words

• trunk
• truncate

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ 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.
13. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
15. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
16. ^ 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)