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washer

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Etymology and origin of the English word washer

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈwɒʃə(ɹ)/[1]
  • US: /ˈwɑʃɚ/[1]

washer1 person or machine that washes

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1325 a gloss on Walter de Bibbesworth
Ultimate origin
Old English wascan
Etymology tree of washer1
inherited borrowed derived
English wash
English washer

Etymology

The agent noun is formed from English wash + -er,[2][3][4][5] in Middle English wassher, from wasshen (“to wash”).[6] The verb is from Old English wascan, from Proto-Germanic *watskaną (“to wash”),[4][1] which Klein derives from the base of water.[7] The OED notes that Sweet's Anglo-Saxon dictionary gives an Old English wæscere, but no example of it has been found;[2] the older English word for one who washes was washester, from Old English wæscestre, used of men and women alike.[4][2] It corresponds to Dutch wasser and German Wäscher.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a popular name of the wagtail: about 1325, in a gloss on Walter de Bibbesworth.[2][4][3]

Semantic evolution

Around 1450 a washer was one who "sweated" coins, removing precious metal from them with acids, a sense that died out by 1771.[2][4][3] The plain sense, one who washes, is first recorded in 1530 in the OED[2] and by the 1520s in Etymonline.[4] From 1515 the word named people who washed things for a living: sheep before shearing (1520), ore in mining (1531), household linen (1530–1775), and later vehicles in a yard or depot (1868).[2] Johnson (1755) quoted Shakespeare: "his laundress, his washer, and his wringer".[8] Machines followed: a washing apparatus in industry from 1808, and a domestic washing machine from 1884;[2][4] by 1958 washer was also short for dishwasher.[4] In North America it has been a name of the raccoon since 1891,[2][3] and in Australia it is a facecloth (mid-20th century).[3][9] Washerwoman dates from the 1630s, after the earlier washwoman of the 1580s.[4][5] In Scots a washer-wife was a washerwoman, and in West Yorkshire a washer was a machine for washing cloth or yarn.[10]

Timeline

  • c. 1325 – the wagtail.[2][3]
  • c. 1450 – one who sweats coins (obsolete by 1771).[2]
  • 1515 – one who cleans things as an occupation.[2]
  • 1530 – one who washes; a launderer or laundress (the latter obsolete by 1775).[2]
  • 1808 – a washing apparatus.[2][4]
  • 1884 – a washing machine for household linen.[2]
  • 1891 – the raccoon.[2]
  • 1958 – short for dishwasher.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A person who washes things, especially as a job: a car washer.[9][6][2]
  2. A machine that washes, especially a washing machine or a dishwasher.[9][6][2]
  3. (Australia) A facecloth.[9][3]
  4. (North America) The raccoon.[2][3]
  5. (obsolete, 1450–1771) One who sweats coins.[2][3]

Word family

  • dishwasher
  • washer-dryer
  • bottlewasher
  • gullywasher
  • washerwoman

washer2 flat ring for bolts and joints

Confidence
Uncertain
First attested
1346 Accounts of the Exchequer

Etymology

The flat ring is of uncertain origin.[2][3][5] It is usually taken to be a use of washer1, but the OED notes that the development of the meaning has not been explained,[2][4] and the Chambers Dictionary suggests that it may have a separate source.[11] Weekley thought it could hardly come from wash and, pointing to the form wisher in a dictionary of 1705, suggested a link with French vis (“screw”);[12] Etymonline likewise allows a derivation from the ancestor of the French word, the source of vise.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A perforated disc or flattened ring placed between two surfaces to relieve friction or prevent play: 1346, in the Accounts of the Exchequer.[2] Etymonline dates the word to the mid-14th century as a kind of smith's tool or device.[4]

Semantic evolution

The word widened with engineering: an iron bearing plate under the nut of a bolt is recorded from 1821, and a disc of leather or rubber sealing a pipe joint or a tap from 1850.[2] The verb, to fit with a washer, follows in 1873.[2][3] In American slang washers were dollars from 1908, and coins in prison slang,[13] and Chambers records the plural as a derisive word for small change.[11]

Timeline

  • 1346 – a perforated disc that relieves friction between moving parts.[2]
  • 1821 – a bearing plate under the nut of a bolt.[2]
  • 1850 – a disc of leather or rubber sealing a pipe joint or tap.[2]
  • 1873 – verb, to fit with a washer.[2]
  • 1908 – US slang, a dollar.[13]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A flat ring of metal placed under a nut or the head of a bolt to spread the pressure or act as a spacer.[9][14][2]
  2. A ring of rubber, leather, plastic or the like that seals a joint, as in a tap or valve.[9][2][3]

Verb

  1. To fit with a washer or washers.[6][2][11]

Word family

  • lock washer
  • washerless

References

  1. ^ a b c d 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 y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  9. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  10. ^ 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)
  11. ^ a b c The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers
  12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  13. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  14. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press

Related etymologies

  • hawk · also from Old English
  • temper · also from Old English
  • sting · also from Old English
  • font · also from Old English
  • stall · also from Old English
  • twentieth · also from Old English
  • warmth · also from Old English
  • tick · also from Old English
Cite this entry

“Washer.” Etymologically, 31 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/washer. Accessed 1 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·