Dock is a sailor's word, and English got it the way it got most of them — from the Dutch and Low German speakers who dominated northern European shipping. Middle Dutch docke gave English dokke in the late 1400s for a ship's berth. Beyond that the trail forks: it may come through Late Latin from Latin ducere, "to lead," or from a Scandinavian word for low ground, and one suggestion is that the original sense was the furrow a grounded vessel ploughs in a mud bank.
The nautical layer it belongs to is substantial: deck, sloop, yacht, cruise, skipper and boss all came from Dutch in the same centuries. English has other unrelated docks — the one where the accused stands in court is from Flemish dok, "a pen or cage for animals," and was probably originally thieves' slang.
dock (n.1) "ship's berth, any structure in or upon which a ship may be held for loading, repairing, etc.," late 15c., dokke , from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German docke , which is perhaps ultimately (via Late Latin *ductia "aqueduct") from Latin ducere "to lead" (from PIE root *deuk- "to lead"); or possibly from a Scandinavian word for "low ground" (compare Norwegian dokk "hollow, low ground"). The original sense was perhaps "furrow a grounded vessel makes in a mud bank." also from late 15c. dock (n.2) "where accused stands in court," 1580s, probably originally rogue's slang, from Flemish dok "pen or cage for animals," which is of unknown origin. also from 1580s dock (v.1) "cut off or clip an animal's tail," late 14c., from dok (n.) "fleshy part of an animal's tail" (mid-14c.), which is from Old English -docca "muscle" or an Old Norse equivalent, from Proto-Germanic *dokko "something round, bundle" (source also of Old Norse dokka "bundle; girl," Danish dukke "a bundle, bunch, ball of twine, straw, etc.," also "doll," German Docke "small column, bundle; doll, smart girl"). The general meaning "deduct a part from," especially "to reduce (someone's) pay for some infraction" is recorded by 1815. Related: Docked ; docking . also from late 14c. dock (n.3) name for various tall, coarse weeds or herbs, Old English docce , from Proto-Germanic *dokkon (source also of Middle Dutch docke- , German Docken- , Old Danish dokka ), akin to Middle High German tocke "bundle, tuft," and ultimately to the noun source of dock (v.1). dock (v.2) "to bring or place (a ship) into a dock," 1510s, from dock (n.1). Intransitive sense of "to come into a dock" is by 1892. Of spaceships, by 1951. Related: Docked; docking . also from 1510s
dock came in through Later and wider borrowings, and its spelling follows that family's conventions.
What gives it away on the page
| sea, trade, and art vocabulary | Dutch and Low German, from centuries of shipping and painting.skipper, deck, yacht, sloop, dock, easel, landscape, boss |
Later and wider borrowings in the spelling guide · guess another word's family