/stæb/
[verb] To push a sharp object, like a knife or needle, quickly into something or someone. It can also mean to cause sudden sharp pain, or to make an attempt at something (as in 'take a stab at it').
The word 'stab' likely grew from a word meaning a stick or post — the weapon became the action.
The word 'stab' first appears in written English records around the late 14th century, though it was almost certainly in spoken use before that. Its earliest traceable root is the Middle English word 'stabbe', which referred to a wound made by a pointed object. This connects to a cluster of related words in the Germanic and Celtic languages that all share the idea of something sharp and pointed — a stick, a post, or a spike driven into a surface.
The most likely ancestor is the Old Norse word 'stafa', meaning a staff or stick, which belonged to the same Proto-Germanic family as the Old English 'stæf' — the word that would eventually give us 'staff' in modern English. There is also a possible connection to the Scottish Gaelic 'stob', meaning a pointed stake or post, which hints at how deeply the word was rooted in the everyday language of northern Britain. The meaning shifted gradually from the object — the sharp stick or post — to the action performed with it.
This kind of word evolution, where the name of a tool becomes the name of what the tool does, is extremely common in English. Think of how 'hammer' can also mean the act of hammering, or how 'knife' has drifted toward similar verb use in informal speech. With 'stab', the action overtook the object so completely that most people today would not even think of a stick or post when they hear the word.
By the 15th and 16th centuries, 'stab' was firmly established in English with the meaning we recognise today — to pierce or wound with a sharp instrument. It appeared in legal documents describing violent crimes and in literary texts exploring themes of betrayal. Shakespeare used it memorably, most famously in the context of Julius Caesar, where the repeated act of stabbing carried enormous dramatic and symbolic weight. The word felt violent and sudden in a way that older synonyms like 'pierce' or 'thrust' did not quite capture.
Over time, 'stab' expanded beyond its literal physical meaning. By the 17th and 18th centuries, writers were using it metaphorically — a remark could 'stab' someone's pride, or grief could 'stab' the heart. This emotional usage survives strongly today. The informal phrase 'take a stab at something', meaning to make an attempt, is a further softening of the word, turning an image of violent force into something almost casual and encouraging — a reminder of how far a word can travel from its pointed, wooden origins.