'awk' (capitalized as 'AWK') originates from the 1977 Unix utility name 'AWK', an acronym formed from the surnames of its creators Alfred Aho, Peter Weinberger, and Brian Kernighan.

'awk' as a clipped form is historically connected to the element in the adjective 'awkward'. 'Awkward' developed from Middle English 'awk(e)ward' and ultimately from Old Norse 'afugr' (meaning 'turned the wrong way'), with 'awk' appearing as the root that later produced the modern clipped form.

Initially the root (from Old Norse 'afugr') described being 'turned the wrong way' (a physical orientation). Over time it evolved to mean 'clumsy' or 'socially uncomfortable' (awkward), and in modern informal English was shortened to the exclamation 'awk'. Separately, in computing 'AWK' became the proper name of the text-processing language.