Wrought-Iron
/ˌrɔːt ˈaɪ.ən/noun
Iron that has been heated and worked by hand or machine into shape, with very low carbon content.
Did you know?The “wrought” in wrought-iron is the old past participle of *work*, from the same Germanic root as *work* itself, so the name preserves the memory of the hammer blows that shaped it.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*werg-
“to do, make, work”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*wurkijanan
“to work, perform”
Old English
OE
wyrcan
“to work, make, construct”
Old English
OE
worht
“worked; made (past participle of wyrcan)”
Modern English
English
wrought-iron
“iron that has been worked into shape”