pluck

Meaning

Verb

1. (transitive) To pull something sharply; to pull something out
2. (transitive) To take or remove (someone) quickly from a particular place or situation.
3. (transitive) To play (a single string on a musical instrument) by pulling and then releasing it, such as on a guitar.
4. (transitive) To remove feathers from (a bird).
5. (archaic, transitive) To rob, steal from; to cheat or swindle (someone).
6. (transitive) To play a string instrument pizzicato.
7. (intransitive) To pull or twitch sharply.
8. (UK, obsolete, transitive) To reject (a student) after they fail an examination for a degree.
9. Of a glacier: to transport individual pieces of bedrock by means of gradual erosion through freezing and thawing.

Noun

1. (countable, uncountable) An instance of plucking or pulling sharply.
2. (countable, uncountable) The lungs, heart with trachea and often oesophagus removed from slaughtered animals.
3. (figuratively, informal, uncountable) Guts, nerve, fortitude or persistence.
4. (slang, uncountable) Cheap wine.

Synonyms

pick

⛏️

pull out

pull

courage

gather

cull

tear off

bravery

nerve

pick off

tear

pull off

guts

boldness

break off

pinch

cut

harvest

grit

valor

deplume

valour

nip

mettle

spirit

plume

displume

plunk

daring

deplumate

giblets

wrest

fortitude

trim

fleece

spunk

tweak

scale

reap

collect

remove

sever

clip

nip off

pull up

uproot

plucking

pluckiness

pick up

overcharge

Translations

cueillir

plukken

desplumar

plumer

pflücken

⛏️

spennare

arrancar

rupfen

déplumer

tirer

afplukken

pincer

plomar

afrukken

cogliere

⛏️

Pronounced as (IPA)

/plʌk/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: plucken

Inherited from Old English: pluccian

Cognate with Old English: plyċċan

Cognate with Old English: pullian

Cognate with Saterland Frisian: plukje

Cognate with Western Frisian: plôkje

Cognate with Dutch: plukken

Cognate with Limburgish: plógte

Cognate with Low German: plukken

Cognate with German: pflücken

Cognate with Danish: -

Cognate with Norwegian: plukke

Cognate with Swedish: plocka

Cognate with Icelandic: plokka

In summary

From Middle English plucken, plukken, plockien, from Old English pluccian, ploccian (“to pluck, pull away, tear”), also Old English plyċċan ("to pluck, pull, snatch; pluck with desire"), from Proto-West Germanic *plukkōn, from Proto-Germanic *plukkōną, *plukkijaną (“to pluck”), of uncertain and disputed origin.
Perhaps related to Old English pullian (“to pull, draw; pluck off; snatch”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian plukje (“to pluck”), West Frisian plôkje (“to pick, pluck”), Dutch plukken (“to pluck”), Limburgish plógte (“to pluck”), Low German plukken (“to pluck”), German pflücken (“to pluck, pick”), Danish and Norwegian plukke (“to pick”), Swedish plocka (“to pick, pluck, cull”), Icelandic plokka, plukka (“to pluck, pull”). More at pull.
An alternative etymology suggests Proto-Germanic *plukkōną, *plukkijaną may have been borrowed from an assumed Vulgar Latin *pilūc(i)cāre, a derivative of Latin pilāre (“deprive of hair, make bald, depilate”), from pilus (“hair”). The Oxford English Dictionary, however, finds difficulties with this and cites gaps in historical evidence.
The noun sense of "heart, liver, and lights of an animal" comes from it being plucked out of the carcass after the animal is killed; the sense of "fortitude, boldness" derives from this meaning, originally being a boxing slang denoting a prize-ring, with semantic development from "heart", the symbol of courage, to "fortitude, boldness".