Other forms: wicked, wicks, wicking
The wick is the cord running up the middle of a candle. You light the wick, not the wax: the flame melts the wax and the braided string drinks it upward, and that is what keeps the candle alive for hours.
Oil lamps have wicks too, and you trim a wick to stop it smoking. The verb comes straight out of that drinking-upward action — sports fabric wicks sweat away from the skin, and wicking is what such clothing is sold on. Hold on to the picture, because it explains the word: a wick does not burn on its own, it carries fuel to the flame. In British slang, to get on someone's wick is to irritate them thoroughly.
1nounwickThe cord in a candle or oil lamp that draws up the fuel and holds the flame.
“He trimmed the wick with scissors before lighting the lamp.”
2verbliquidTo draw liquid along or through something by soaking.
“The shirt wicks moisture away from the skin and dries in minutes.”
wick is a cord.
Wick goes back to Old English wēoce and Proto-West Germanic *weukā, which meant a bundle of flax as much as a wick — because a bundle of twisted plant fibre is exactly what an early wick was. The trail may lead further back to a Proto-Indo-European root *weg-, to weave. Before candles were poured, wicks were braided.
Proto-Indo-European
*weg- — to weave
Proto-West Germanic
*weukā — flax bundle; wick
Old English
wēoce — wick
Middle English
wek
English, today
wick
Built from
The is derived from Middle English wek, weke, wicke (“fibrous cord drawing fuel to flame of a candle, etc.; material used to make this object”), from Old English wēoce (“wick”), from Proto-West Germanic weukā (“flax bundle; wick”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European weg- (“to weave”). It has been suggested that noun penis (“penis”) is derived from Hampton Wick, used as rhyming slang for prick. If so, that sense should be placed under etymology 2. The is derived from the noun.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA