Where does “trunk” come from?
Trunk comes from Middle English trunke, from Old French tronc, from Latin truncus, from Proto-Indo-European twerḱ-.
trunk (English): "Part of a body."; "A container."; "A channel for...
Definitions
- "Part of a body."; "A container."; "A channel for...
Ancestry of “trunk”, step by step
trunk traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Middle English tronke
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Middle English | tronke | A large chest or storage container; A container... |
| 2 | Old French | tronc | alms box, tree trunk, headless body; trunk |
| 3 | Latin | truncus | lopped, docked; maimed, mangled, mutilated; A... |
| 4 | Proto-Indo-European | twerḱ- | to carve, cut off, trim |
via German Trunk
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | German | Trunk | a drink, generally mixed of several ingredients,... |
| 2 | Old French | trunc | trunk of a tree |
Words derived from “trunk”