Etymology: < pluck v. Compare Middle Dutch pluc handful, flock (of wool) (Dutch pluk).Earlier currency is perhaps implied by the surnames Joh. Plukling (c1311), Johannes Pluck (1350–1).

Etymology: Origin unknown. Perhaps compare Scottish Gaelic ploc club (see plug n.).Perhaps compare also Shetland Scots plukk codling (apparently a variant of northern Scots block, in the same sense; of uncertain origin).

Etymology: Cognate with West Frisian ploaitsje (also plōkje ; past tense and past participle plōke or ploaite ), Middle Dutch plocken , Middle Low German plocken , also (perhaps < Middle Low German or Old English) Old Icelandic plokka , plukka , Old Swedish plokka , plukka (Swedish plocka ), Old Danish ploccæ (Danish plukke ), and also (from a variant of the same base with suffix causing i-mutation) plitch v. and the cognates listed at that entry; further etymology uncertain; perhaps related to the following group of words in the Romance languages: Old French peluchier to untangle hair (12th cent.), (of a bird) to preen (13th cent.), to peck (13th cent.), Anglo-Norman plucher to shell (nuts) (c1290), Old Occitan pelugar , pelucar to preen, to remove (feathers or hair) (both 13th cent.; Occitan pelugar , pelucar ), Catalan pellucar to take things (especially food) one by one or in small quantities (13th cent.), Italian piluccare to pick and eat grapes one by one, to nibble, to exploit (14th cent.), and also (compare ex- prefix¹) Old French, Middle French espeluchier (French éplucher ) (reflexive, of an animal) to clean itself of vermin or dirt (12th cent.), to ruffle, tousle, to examine carefully (13th cent.), Middle French esplucher (French éplucher ) to strip (fabric, etc.) of foreign matter (1508), Middle French espelucher , esploucher (French éplucher ) to peel or shell (vegetables, nuts, etc.) (16th cent.). For further forms related to these see Französisches etymologisches Wörterbuch at pĭlūcare, where the prevailing view is given that the Romance words are < an unattested post-classical Latin *piluccare < classical Latin pilāre (see pill v.³), with unexplained ending (perhaps showing an iterative formation on an unattested *pilucare , itself modelled ultimately on mandūcāre manducate v. beside mandere), and that the Germanic words ultimately show a borrowing of this. (However, some of the Romance forms pose formal difficulties for this explanation. For an alternative view compare J. Coromines Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana VI. (1986) at pellucar.)Use in sense 8a has frequently been regarded as arising from the phrase to pluck the Proctor's gown at sense 3a, but the chronology of the examples would suggest otherwise. In Old English the prefixed form apluccian to pick out, gather (compare a- prefix¹ ) is also attested.