From Middle High German trucken, trocken, from Old High German truckan, trokkan (“dried out, parched, thirsty, dry”), from Proto-West Germanic *drukn, from Proto-Germanic *druknaz, *druhnaz (“dry”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰerǵʰ- (“to strengthen; become hard or solid”), from *dʰer- (“to hold, hold fast, support”). The form trucken was originally predominant, but the word eventually became standardized in an old western variant with -o-. Cognate with Old Saxon drokno (“dry”, adverb), Old English ġedrycnan (“to dry up”).