sock

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C1 — Advanced

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun hosiery consisting of a cloth covering for the foot; worn inside the shoe; reaches to between the ankle and the knee
  2. noun a truncated cloth cone mounted on a mast; used (e.g., at airports) to show the direction of the wind
  3. verb hit hard

Etymology

From Middle English socke, sokke, sok, from Old English socc (“sock, light shoe, slipper”), a West Germanic borrowing from Latin soccus (“a light shoe or slipper, buskin”), from Ancient Greek σύκχος (súkkhos, “a kind of shoe”), probably from Phrygian or from an Anatolian language. Beekes compares Avestan 𐬵𐬀𐬑𐬀 (haxa, “sole of the foot”). Cognate with Scots sok (“sock, stocking”), West Frisian sok (“sock”), Dutch sok (“sock”), German Socke (“sock”), Danish sok, sokke (“sock”), Swedish sock, socka (“sock”), Icelandic sokkur (“sock”). Doublet of zocco; also related to zoccolo, socle, and zocalo.

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