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You are here: Home / Language / Where Did the Word “Picket” Come From and What Does Picket Mean in French?

Where Did the Word “Picket” Come From and What Does Picket Mean in French?

June 29, 2020 by Karen Hill

A picket line, of course, is a group of union people exercising their right to protest.

While a military picket is a guard on duty to protect the perimeter of an encampment.

The word picket comes from the early French settlers, who made fortified stockades from sharpened tree trunks, which they called piquet, meaning “pointed sticks.”

Picket also refers to the pointed slats of picket fences and in the actions of union strikers.

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Filed Under: Language

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

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