nicor (English)

Where does "nicor" come from?

The English noun 'nicor', meaning a sea monster, is a learned borrowing from Old English 'nicor'[1]. That Old English term derives from Proto-Germanic '*nikraz'[2], which may ultimately trace back to the Proto-Indo-European root '*neygʷ-', meaning 'to wash'[2][3].

Open questions

• The derivation of Proto-Germanic '*nikraz' from Proto-Indo-European '*neygʷ-' remains a tentative proposal. [2] [3]

Full etymology tree

• nicor (English), 'A sea monster.'
  • borrowed nicor (Old English), 'water demon, water monster'
    • inherited *nikraz (Proto-Germanic), 'a Nix, a malicious water spirit, attested among most Germanic peoples'
      • derived *neygʷ- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to wash'

Ancestors

• nicor (Old English)

Sources

1. nicor (English) - Wiktionary
2. nicor (Old English) - Wiktionary
3. nikraz (Proto-Germanic) - Wiktionary

Updated September 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris