Wader
/ˈweɪ.dər/noun
A person or thing that wades, especially a waterproof boot or a long-legged bird that walks in shallow water.
Did you know?The bird-name sense of wader is tied to the same old Germanic root as wade, so the word carries the image of a creature moving through liminal water, neither fully on land nor fully in the deep.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*wed-
“to go, move, or travel”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*wadaną
“to go, wade”
Old English
OE
wadan
“to go, proceed, advance; later also to wade”
Middle English
ME
waden
“to wade through water or another medium”
Modern English
English
wader
“one who wades; a waterproof boot or a wading bird”