buck English · revision 10540

+ Buck, a male deer or goat, is inherited from Old English; buck, the marker passed round in poker, is probably short for a buckhorn knife.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /bʌk/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ {{homograph|1|male animal}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=before 830|origins=ang bucca}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|ang|bucca|t=male goat]] (before 830, in the Vespasian Psalter),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) from [[m|gem-pro|*bukkōn]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) cognate with Old Saxon buck, Dutch bok, German Bock and Old Norse bukkr.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) It is perhaps from an Indo-European word also seen in Avestan būza- and Armenian buc “lamb”,^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) though some think it comes from a lost pre-Germanic language,^(Etymonline) and Merriam-Webster notes the similar Celtic words (Old Irish boc), perhaps by borrowing.^(MWU 2024) Barnhart regards the often-cited Old English buc “male deer” as a ghost word.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A male goat, before 830; the sense moved to the male deer by about 1300.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Buck was applied to a man from 1303,^(OED 1989) and to a fashionable, dashing young man from 1725;^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) it was also used, disparagingly, of a Native American man from about 1800 and of a Black man from 1835.^(Etymonline) ''Buck private'' (1870s) may come from this sense.^(Etymonline) The verb, of a horse leaping with an arched back, is from 1848, first in an Australian book, apparently “to jump like a buck”;^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) its figurative sense, to resist stubbornly, is from 1857, perhaps influenced by an earlier buck “to butt” (1750).^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) ''Buck up'', to cheer up, is from 1844.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) The slang sense “dollar” (1856, American) is probably from buckskin used as a unit of trade with Native Americans and frontiersmen (1748).^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 830 – a male goat.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1300 – a male deer.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1725 – a dashing young man.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1844 – buck up.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1848 – to buck (of a horse).^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1856 – a dollar.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1857 – to resist.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The adult [[male]] of some animals, such as the [[deer]], [[antelope]], [[goat]] or [[rabbit]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(archaic)'' A spirited young man; a [[fop]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(informal)'' A [[dollar]]; an amount of money.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # Of a horse, to [[leap]] upward with the back arched, often to throw its rider.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To resist or [[oppose]] stubbornly.^(AHD)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[buckskin]]

+ * [[buckshot]]

+

+ {{homograph|2|poker marker}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=clipping|attested=1865}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is probably short for an earlier buckhorn knife, a knife with a handle of buck's horn used as a counter in poker.^(MWU 2024)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In poker, an object put in the jackpot to show whose turn it is to deal: ''pass the buck'' is recorded in this literal sense in 1865.^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The figurative ''pass the buck'', to shift responsibility to someone else, is first recorded in 1912, in American English,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) and ''the buck stops here'' (1952) is associated with President Harry Truman.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1865 – the poker marker.^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1912 – pass the buck (figurative).^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1952 – the buck stops here.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[counter]] or [[marker]] formerly passed from one poker player to another to show whose turn it is to deal.^(AHD)

+ # ''pass the buck'': to shift [[responsibility]] or blame to someone else.^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[goat]]

+ * [[sawbuck]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A third buck, a sawhorse (1817, American English), was apparently borrowed from Dutch bok, trestle, and spelled after the animal word.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}