Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “sherlock” come from?

Sherlock comes from Old English scir-lock, a compound of scir (shire) and lock (enclosure), originally denoting a lock or fastening associated with a shire or district.

sherlock (English): To deduce; To search; To obsolete a unique...

Definitions

  1. To deduce; To search; To obsolete a unique...

Ancestry of “sherlock”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Englishscir-lockbright-lock

Words derived from “sherlock”

  • Sherlockian
  • Sherlockiana
  • Sherlockish
  • Sherlocky
Every word from Old English scir-lock →