puck
English
/pʌk/
noun
Definitions
- (now) A mischievous or hostile spirit.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English puke inherited from Old English pūca (demon, goblin) inherited from Proto-Germanic *pūkô (a goblin, spook, imp, goblin) derived from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pāug(')- (spectre, brilliance).
Origin
Proto-Indo-European
*(s)pāug(')-
Gloss
spectre, brilliance
Timeline
Distribution of cognates by language
Geogrpahic distribution of cognates
Cognates and derived terms
- Puck English
- handler English
- handling English
- puck-handling English
- puckhandler English
- puckle English
- pucklike English
- puckster English
- puckstopper English
- puckstopping English
- shuffle English
- shufflepuck English
- stopper English
- stopping English
- Puck German
- Spuk German
- spukhaft German
- spook Dutch, Flemish
- *(s)pāug(')- Proto-Indo-European
- *(s)pāuǵ- Proto-Indo-European
- *pūkô Proto-Germanic
- puck Swedish
- puca Old English
- pucel Old English
- pūca Old English
- *poukel Middle English
- puke Middle English
- púki Old Norse
- spøg Danish
- púki Icelandic
- pūķis Latvian
- púca Old Irish
- spōk Middle Low German
- puke Old Swedish
- spuku Sranan Tongo