mid-14c., "wickerwork," from a Scandinavian source (compare Danish viger, Middle Swedish viker "willow, willow branch"), from Proto-Germanic *wik- (cognates: Old Norse vikja "to move, turn," Swedish vika "to bend," Old English wican "to give way, yield"), from PIE root *weik- (4) "to bend, twine" (see weak). The notion is of pliant twigs. As an adjective, "made of wicker," from c.1500.