waker

Meaning

Adj

Watchful; vigilant; alert.

Noun

1. One who wakens or arouses from sleep.
2. One who wakes somebody or something.
3. In the Rust programming language, a handle that "wakes up" a task by notifying its executor that it is ready to be run.

Synonyms

rouser

arouser

riser

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: wakyr

Inherited from Old English: wacor

Cognate with Scots: wakir

Cognate with Dutch: wakker

Cognate with German: wacker

Cognate with Swedish: vacker

Inherited from Middle English: wakere

Cognate with Western Frisian: wekker

Cognate with Dutch: wekker

Cognate with German: Wecker

In summary

From Middle English wakyr, from Old English wacor, waccor (“watchful, vigilant”), from Proto-West Germanic *wakr, from Proto-Germanic *wakraz (“awake, watchful”), equivalent to wake + -er.
Cognate with Scots wakir (“watchful”), Dutch wakker (“awake”), German wacker (“awake, alert, capable, brave”), Swedish vacker (“wakeful, watchful, fair, comely”). Also precisely cognate with Sanskrit वज्र (vájra, “adamantine”), both ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wóǵ-ros (“strong, lively”), and therefore a doublet of vajra. Further related through the same Indo-European root to vigil, vigor, and vegetable.