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Origin and history of trough

trough(n.)

Old English trog "flat, shallow wooden vessel; tray, hollow vessel, canoe," from Proto-Germanic *trugaz (source also of Old Frisian, Old Saxon, Old Norse trog, Middle Dutch troch, Dutch trog, Old High German troc, German trog), from PIE *dru-ko-, from root *deru- "be firm, solid, steadfast," with specialized senses "wood, tree" and derivatives referring to objects made of wood.

Formerly pronounced in English with a hard -gh- (as in Scottish loch); the pronunciation shifted to "-ff," but spelling remained.

Entries linking to trough

*deru-

also *dreu-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "be firm, solid, steadfast," with specialized senses "wood," "tree" and derivatives referring to objects made of wood.

It might form all or part of: betroth; Dante; dendrite; dendro-; dendrochronology; dour; Druid; drupe; dryad; dura mater; durable; durance; duration; duress; during; durum; endure; hamadryad; indurate; obdurate; perdurable; philodendron; rhododendron; shelter; tar (n.1) "viscous liquid;" tray; tree; trig (adj.) "smart, trim;" trim; troth; trough; trow; truce; true; trust; truth; tryst.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit dru "tree, wood," daru "wood, log, timber;" Greek drys "oak," drymos "copse, thicket," doru "beam, shaft of a spear;" Old Church Slavonic drievo "tree, wood," Serbian drvo "tree," drva "wood," Russian drevo "tree, wood," Czech drva, Polish drwa "wood;" Lithuanian drūtas "firm," derva "pine, wood;" Welsh drud, Old Irish dron "strong," Welsh derw "true," Old Irish derb "sure," Old Irish daur, Welsh derwen "oak;" Albanian drusk "oak;" Old English treo, treow "tree," triewe "faithful, trustworthy, honest."

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    More to explore

    bowl
    "round, low vessel to hold liquids or liquid food," Old English bolla "pot, cup, bowl," from Proto-Germanic *bul- "a round vessel" (source also of Old Norse bolle, Old High German bolla), from PIE root *bhel- (2) "to blow, swell." Formerly also "a large drinking cup," hence figur
    gutter
    late 13c., "watercourse, water drainage channel along the side of a street," from Anglo-French gotere, Old French guitere, goutiere "gutter, spout" of water (12c., Modern French gouttière), from goute "a drop," from Latin gutta "a drop" (see gout). Meaning "furrow made by running
    manger
    "box or trough in a stable or cow-shed from which horses and cattle eat food other than hay" (which generally is placed in a rack above the manger), early 14c., maunger, from Old French mangeoire "crib, manger," from mangier "to eat" (Modern French manger) "to eat," from Late Lat
    chute
    Meaning "inclined tube, trough" is from 1804; that of "narrow passage for cattle, etc." first recorded 1871....
    estaminet
    Or [Watkins] from Walloon stamen "post to which a cow is tied at a feeding trough," from Proto-Germanic *stamniz, from suffixed...
    broomstick
    The witch's flying broomstick originally was one among many such objects (pitchfork, trough, bowl), but the broomstick became...
    dalle
    The French word might be a reference to trough-like channels, from Low German or Dutch daal "outlet, drain," or it might...
    exchequer
    c. 1300, "a chessboard, checkerboard," from Anglo-French escheker "a chessboard," from Old French eschequier, from Medieval Latin scaccarium "chess board" (see check (n.1); also see checker (n.2)). The governmental sense of "department of the royal household concerned with the re
    lilt
    1510s, "to lift up" (the voice), probably from West Midlands dialect lulten "to sound an alarm" (late 14c.), a word of unknown origin. Possible relatives include Norwegian lilla "to sing" and Low German lul "pipe;" the whole loose group might be imitative. Sense of "sing in a lig
    till
    "until," Old English til (Northumbrian) "to," from Old Norse til "to, until," from Proto-Germanic *tilan (source also of Danish til, Old Frisian til "to, till," Gothic tils "convenient," German Ziel "limit, end, goal"). A common preposition in Scandinavian, serving in the place o

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    Dictionary entries near trough
    • troublemaker
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    • troublous
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