Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “trickle” come from?

I need to point out an inconsistency: the chain provided traces "strickle/strike" but the headword is "trickle." These are different words with different etymologies. If you meant to ask about **strickle** (a tool for leveling grain), here's the sentence: Strickle comes from English strike, from Middle English striken, from Old English strīcan, from Proto-Germanic strīkaną, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European streyg-, meaning to stroke or move. If you meant **trickle**, that has a separate origin (likely from Middle Dutch *trickelen* or similar) and wouldn't follow this chain. Please clarify which headword you need, and I'll provide the correct one-sentence summary.

trickle (English): A very thin river; A very thin flow; the act of...

Definitions

  1. A very thin river; A very thin flow; the act of...

Ancestry of “trickle”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishstrickleA rod used to level grain etc. when being...
2Middle Englishstrikile—

Words derived from “trickle”

  • trickledown
  • trickly
  • trickler
  • tricklet
  • tricklesome
Every word from Middle English strikile →