Etymology
1. "solid piece," c.1305, from O.Fr.
bloc "log, block," via M.Du.
bloc "trunk of a tree" or O.H.G.
bloh, both from PIE
*bhlugo-, from
*bhel "a thick plank, beam." Slang sense of "head" is from 1635. The meaning in
city block is 1796, from the notion of a "compact mass" of buildings; slang meaning "fashionable promenade" is 1869. Extended sense of "obstruction" is first recorded 1649. The verb "to obstruct" is from 1570.
Blockhead "stupid person" (1549) was originally a head-shaped oaken block used by hat-makers.
Blockade first used 1680, with false Fr. ending (the Fr. word is
blocus).
Blockhouse is c.1500, of unknown origin.
2. From Middle English blok (“log, stump, solid piece”), from Old French bloc (“log, block”), from Middle Dutch blok (“treetrunk”), from Old Dutch *blok (“log”), from Proto-West Germanic *blokk, from Proto-Germanic *blukką (“beam, log”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵ- (“thick plank, beam, pile, prop”). Cognate with Old Frisian blok, Old Saxon blok, Old High German bloh, bloc (“block”), Old English bolca (“gangway of a ship, plank”), Old Norse bǫlkr (“divider, partition”). More at balk. See also bloc, bulk.
Verbs referencing "block"
Spanish
bloquear, Finnish with old forms
blokata, Latvian
bloķēt, Thai
บล็อก, Vietnamese
bờ lốc.