wrestler

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English wrestlere, also wrastlere,^[1][2] inherited from Old English wrǣstlere,^[1][3][4] an agent noun formed from Old English *wrǣstlian + -ere, the Old English source of wrestle.^[3][1][5][6] The Old English verb is not recorded by itself, only in derivatives such as this noun and wræstlung (“wrestling”).^[3][7] It is a frequentative of wrǣstan (“to wrest”), the source of wrest.^[5][3] The OED compares the agent nouns Dutch worstelaar and older Flemish worsteler,^[3] and the verb has cognates in Middle Low German worstelen and Middle Dutch worstelen.^[3][7][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who wrestles: in an Old English glossary, where wrǣstlere translates Latin luctātor.^[4][3] The 1989 OED dates this record to about 1050.^[8]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word named someone who wrestles, especially one skilled in wrestling as a sport or display.^[3][6] As a byname it appears in the early 14th century, as in William le Wrastler in Warwickshire in 1332.^[9] By about 1340, in Richard Rolle's Psalter, it could also be used figuratively of someone who struggles against difficulties or adverse conditions.^[3][6][10] Johnson (1755) defined it as one who wrestles or "professes the athletick art", quoting Shakespeare's question about "the duke's wrestler" in As You Like It.^[11] In the American West it was used from 1888, in Theodore Roosevelt, for a man who throws cattle to the ground for branding.^[3][10] The Shorter Oxford records the spellings rassler, wrassler and rastler, which reflect a pronunciation with a now found in dialect, chiefly in North America.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1050 – Old English wrǣstlere, glossing Latin luctātor.^[8][4]
• 1332 – William le Wrastler, a byname in a Warwickshire record.^[9]
• a. 1340 – figurative, one who struggles against difficulties, in Richard Rolle's Psalter.^[3]
• 1755 – Johnson: one who wrestles, or who practises the athletic art.^[11]
• 1888 – Western U.S., one who throws cattle for branding.^[3][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who wrestles, especially one who takes part in wrestling as a sport: The two wrestlers circled each other on the mat.^[1][3][6]
2. Figuratively, a person who struggles with problems or hardships.^[3][6]
3. (Western U.S.) A person who throws cattle to the ground so that they can be branded.^[3][10]

Related words

• wrestle
• wrest
• wrestling

References

1. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
2. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Reaney, P. H.; Wilson, R. M. (1991), A Dictionary of English Surnames, 3rd ed., London: Routledge
10. ^ a b c d Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
11. ^ 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.