wickerwork

Etymology

It is formed from English wicker + work.^[2][3][4] Wicker is from Middle English wiker, of Scandinavian origin:^[5][6] compare dialectal Swedish vikker (“willow branch”), Swedish vika (“to bend”) and Old Norse víkja (“to move, turn”).^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Flexible twigs or osiers plaited together; basket-work: 1719, in Defoe's Robinson Crusoe.^[2][6][3][8] Dictionary.com dates the word a little earlier, to 1705–15.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The compound arrived long after its base: wicker is recorded as wekirr in 1336 for this same woven material, and only later for a pliant twig.^[6] The compound has one sense in the OED,^[2] and it is often used before another noun, for chairs, cages and the like.^[8][7] Collins treats wicker in this sense as short for wickerwork.^[7]

Timeline

• 1336 – the base wekirr, woven twigs.^[6]
• 1719 – wickerwork, a structure of plaited twigs or osiers.^[2][6][3][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. Material or work made of osiers, twigs or rods woven together; basketry: a wickerwork hamper.^[8][7][2]

Related words

• wicker
• weak
• work
• week

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster