dregs

Where does the word "dregs" come from? It comes from Old Norse dreggjar, passing through Middle English before entering English (1500s).

Dregs’s story begins in Old Norse: dreggjar meant “sediment.” Sediment, lees. By 1300s, the word had taken hold in Middle English as dreg. Borrowed in the north of England. It reached English by 1500s as dregs. 'the dregs of society' dates from the 1500s. Today, dregs means the sediment at the bottom of a liquid; the most worthless part.

1. Stage 1 · Old Norse · medieval dreggjar "sediment", sediment, lees.
2. Stage 2 · Middle English · 1300s dreg "sediment", borrowed in the north of England.
3. Stage 3 · English · 1500s dregs "sediment; the worst part", 'the dregs of society' dates from the 1500s.