trigger

Where does the word "trigger" come from? It comes from Dutch trekker, passing through English before entering English (mid-1700s onward).

Trigger’s story begins in Dutch: trekker meant “a pull, a lever.” From 'trekken', to pull or draw, used for any pull-lever such as a drawer-pull or bell-pull. By early 1600s, the word had taken hold in English as tricker. Anglicized spelling adopted for the lever of a gunlock. It reached English by mid-1700s onward as trigger. Spelling shifted closer to the Dutch original; sense broadened figuratively. Today, trigger means a device that fires a mechanism, or anything that sets off a chain of events.

1. Stage 1 · Dutch · medieval trekker "a pull, a lever", from 'trekken', to pull or draw, used for any pull-lever such as a drawer-pull or bell-pull.
2. Stage 2 · English · early 1600s tricker "the lever of a gunlock", anglicized spelling adopted for the lever of a gunlock.
3. Stage 3 · English · mid-1700s onward trigger "a device that sets off a mechanism, or anything that sets off a reaction", spelling shifted closer to the Dutch original; sense broadened figuratively.