Where does “knockbuster” come from?
knockbuster (English) comes from English blockbuster, from English block, from French Bloc, from Middle French bloc, from Old French bloc, from Dutch blok, from Middle Dutch blok, from Old Dutch blok — thick plank, beam, pile, prop.
Ancestry of “knockbuster”, step by step
knockbuster traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English blockbuster
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | blockbuster | A high-explosive bomb used for the purposes of... |
| 2 | English | block | A substantial, often approximately cuboid, piece... |
| 3 | French | Bloc | Bloc — Bloc Québécois (Bloc québécois) |
| 4 | Middle French | bloc | a considerable piece of something heavy, block |
| 5 | Old French | bloc | log, block |
| 6 | Dutch | blok | a block; a street block; a political bloc |
| 7 | Middle Dutch | blok | treetrunk |
| 8 | Old Dutch | blok | log |
| 9 | Proto-West Germanic | blokk | block, log |
| 10 | Proto-Germanic | blukką | block, log |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | bhulg'- | — |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-European | bhelg'- | thick plank, beam, pile, prop |