#pickaxe

That mini heart attack you get every time your pickaxe breaks in Minecraft.

Pike (the weapon) and pick (the tool) come from the Middle English pik/pyk andpic, respectively, all via the Old English piic, “pointed object, pickaxe.”

The verbs pickandpeck also come from Middle English, in this case pikenandpicken, respectively, all via the Old English pician “to prick,” and perhaps from the Old Norse pikka. 

Pickaxe is often thought to be a compound word of “pick” and “axe,” but is actually from the Middle English (13c) picas,ultimately from the Medieval Latin picosa. In 15c it was altered via folk etymology to include axe. Axe itself is from the Old English æces/æx, via the Proto-Germanic akusjo, via the Proto-Indo-European agw(e)si-. 

In some Middle English and Early Modern English dialects, pickandpitch were synonymous. Because of this, we also have pitchfork and piggyback. Pitchfork was originally pic-forken in Middle English (13c), and piggyback was originally pick pack (1560), from the act of pitching a bag over one’s shoulder. 

Pickle (15c) is unrelated, and of uncertain origin. 

Toothpick is Early Modern English, but Old English had toðsticca, “tooth-stick.”