Where Does the Word Eavesdropping Come from?

Eavesdrop started off literally: first it referred to the water that fell from the eaves of a house, then it came to mean the ground where that water fell. Eventually, eavesdropper described someone who stood within the eavesdrop of a house to overhear a conversation inside.

When was the word eavesdrop invented?

Eavesdrop comes from the Old English yfesdrype, which the Oxford English Dictionary attests all the way back in an 868 Kentish charter. Yfesdrype, or eavesdrip, first referred to the space around a house where rainwater dripped from the eaves. It also named the dripping itself.

How old is the word eavesdropping?

The word eavesdropper, meaning one who stands in the eavesdrop of a building and listens to conversations within, dates to 1487. From the Nottingham Borough Records of that year, mostly in Latin except for the word in question: "Juratores...