Where does “hair trigger” come from?
hair trigger (English) comes from English Hair, from Middle English hēr, from Old English hēr, from Proto-West Germanic *hēr, from Proto-Germanic hē₂r, from Proto-Indo-European ḱe, from Middle English kyt, from German kitt — to bend; curve; arch; vault; to bow, bend, arch,...
hair trigger (English): Alternative form of hair-trigger; Any unstable...
Definitions
- Alternative form of hair-trigger; Any unstable...
Ancestry of “hair trigger”, step by step
hair trigger traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English Hair
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Hair | A pigmented filament of keratin which grows from a follicle on the skin of humans and other mammals |
| 2 | Middle English | hēr | a hair |
| 3 | Old English | hēr | at this place |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | *hēr | here |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | hē₂r | here, in this place |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱe | Deictic particle, here; Post-positional... |
| 7 | Middle English | kyt | — |
| 8 | German | kitt | putty certain kinds of cement used for fixing e.g. window panes |
| 9 | Old High German | kuti | — |
| 10 | Proto-West Germanic | kwidu | gum, resin |
| 11 | Proto-Germanic | kweduz | resin |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷet- | resin, gum; to say, speak |
| 13 | Proto-Indo-European | gū- | to bend; curve; arch; vault; to bow, bend, arch,... |
via English trigger
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | trigger | A finger-operated lever used to fire a gun; A... |
| 2 | Dutch | trekker | puller; trigger; tractor |
| 3 | Dutch | trekken | to pull, to draw; to manage, to have the strength... |
| 4 | Middle Dutch | trecken | to pull or draw to oneself; to go to another... |
| 5 | Old Dutch | trecken | — |
| 6 | Proto-West Germanic | *trakkjan | to drag |
| 7 | Proto-Germanic | trakjaną | to drag |
| 8 | Proto-Germanic | -janą | Derives denominatives from nouns and factitives... |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -yéti | Creates intransitive, often deponent,... |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | yé- | — |
| 11 | Chichewa | iye | he, she |