Stock

See also: stock, Stöck, -stock, and stock-

English

Etymology

• As an English surname, from the noun stock (“stock, tree stump”). This sense is also found respectively in Dutch and German, and Slavic borrowings of them. Compare Stocker.
• Also as an English surname, variant of Stoker.
• (Stockton): Clipping of Stockton.

Proper noun

Stock (countable and uncountable, plural Stocks)

1. A village and civil parish in Chelmsford district, Essex, England, United Kingdom (OS grid ref TQ6998).
2. A surname.
   • 2025 July 3, Ben Whedon, “Reshaping the right: A generational divide heralds a transformation of the GOP”, in Just the News‎^[1], archived from the original on 20 July 2025:

     Speaking on the John Solomon Reports podcast this week, conservative activist and RiftTV contributor Sarah Stock attributed some of the divide to a generational split in how conservatives consume information.

3. Diminutive of Stockton (“personal name”).

See also

• Goodley Stock

Anagrams

• 'tocks, tocks

Alemannic German

Etymology

From Middle High German stoc, from Old High German stoc, from Proto-West Germanic *stokk.

Pronunciation

• (Zürich) IPA^(key): /ʃtok͡x/

Noun

Stock m (plural Stöck, diminutive Stöckli n)

1. stick

Further reading

• “Stock”, in Wörterbuch Berndeutsch-Deutsch (in German), berndeutsch.ch, 1999–2026

Central Franconian

Etymology

From Middle High German stoc, from Old High German stoc, from Proto-West Germanic *stokk.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃtɔk/

Noun

Stock m (plural Stöck or Stäck, diminutive Stöckelche or Stäckelche)

1. (most dialects) stick; staff
2. (most dialects) floor; storey; level

Usage notes

• The inflected forms with -ö- are Ripuarian, those with -ä- are Moselle Franconian.

German

Alternative forms

• Stok (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle High German stoc, from Old High German stoc, from Proto-West Germanic *stokk.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃtɔk/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Noun

Stock m (strong, genitive Stockes or Stocks, plural Stöcke or (colloquial, regional) Stöcker, diminutive Stöckchen n)

1. stick (solid, wooden, broken off twig or small branch mostly clear of leaves or smaller twigs)

   Schau mal, ich habe einen Stock gefunden, der wie ein Schwert aussieht.

   Check it out, I found a stick that looks like a sword.

2. stick, staff (length of wood or other hard material that is being used as an aid in movement, e.g. in hiking or skiiing)

   Ich weiß nicht, wo ich den Stock gelassen habe; haben Sie ihn nicht gesehen?

   I don't know where I've left the staff; have you seen it perhaps?

3. floor, storey, level

   im dritten Stock ― on the third floor (UK counting)/fourth floor (US counting)

4. stock, supply (but only in some contexts and much less common than in English)
5. (card games) pile of undealt cards, deck
6. the entirety of roots of a plant; stock
7. ellipsis of Bienenstock: hive, beehive

Usage notes

• The standard plural is Stöcke.
• The alternative plural Stöcker is used in northern and eastern Germany, chiefly in colloquial usage and usually only for the senses of “stick”.

Declension

Declension of Stock [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Stock	die	Stöcke, Stöcker2
genitive	eines	des	Stockes, Stocks	der	Stöcke, Stöcker2
dative	einem	dem	Stock, Stocke1	den	Stöcken, Stöckern2
accusative	einen	den	Stock	die	Stöcke, Stöcker2

¹Now rare, see notes.
²Colloquial, regional.

Synonyms

• (stick): Stab
• (storey): Etage; Stockwerk
• (deck of cards): Talon
• (tree trunk): Stumpen; Stumpf

Derived terms

• Bienenstock
• Gehstock
• Holzstock
• Rebstock
• Rohrstock
• Spazierstock
• stock-
• Stöckchen
• Stockente
• stockgerade
• Stockkampf
• Stockwerk
• Türstock
• Viehstock
• Viehtreiberstock
• Weinstock
• Zeigestock

Related terms

• stochern

See also

• steif wie ein Stock

Further reading

• “Stock”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[2] (in German)
• “Stock” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “Stock” in Duden online
• Stock on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^de
• Friedrich Kluge (1883), “Stock”, in John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891

Hunsrik

Etymology

Inherited from Central Franconian Stock, from Middle High German stoc, from Old High German stoc, from Proto-West Germanic *stokk, from Proto-Germanic *stukkaz.

Cognate with German Stock and Luxembourgish Stack.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃtok/
• Rhymes: -ok
• Hyphenation: Stock

Noun

Stock m (plural Steck, diminutive Steckche)

1. stick (any long, thin piece of wood)
2. bush, shrub
3. tree trunk

   Synonym: Stamm

4. (in compounds) plant

   Banannestock ― banana plant

Derived terms

nouns

• Banannestock
• Batattestock
• Bohnestock
• Boverstock
• Fummstock
• Himbeerestock
• Kaffistock
• Krautstock
• Linsestock
• Miljestock
• Mischirickestock
• Palmestock
• Perlsteckche
• Rockeplanz
• Rosestock
• Tomattestock
• Trauvestock

Noun

Stock m (plural Steck)

1. floor (storey of a building)

   Ich wohne im zehnte Stock.

   I live on the tenth floor.