Why are they called ticks? - briefly
The term originates from Old English ticc, a word for a parasitic creature that entered Middle English as tikke. The name may also imitate the ticking sound associated with the insect’s movement.
Why are they called ticks? - in detail
The name of the blood‑sucking arachnid derives from Old English ticca, a term for a parasite that feeds on mammals. Middle English retained the form tike or tikke, which later standardized as tick in Early Modern English. The root is unrelated to the onomatopoeic “tick” of a clock; instead it reflects a Germanic lexical line that also appears in Old Norse tík (“parasite”) and possibly in Old High German zic (“a small creature”).
Historical dictionaries trace the word’s evolution as follows:
- Old English ticca – generic label for a parasitic arthropod.
- Middle English tike, tikke – used in veterinary and medical texts.
- 16th‑17th centuries – spelling fixed as tick; the term applied specifically to the Ixodida order.
The scientific classification reinforced the common name. When Carl Linnaeus described the species Ixodes ricinus in 1758, he used “tick” as the vernacular equivalent, cementing the term in zoological literature.
Modern usage distinguishes the insect from the clock sound by context; the two homographs share spelling only, not etymology. The etymological lineage therefore explains why the parasite bears the name tick.