"P" Word Origins

From Latin pecūniārius, from pecūnia (“money”), itself from pecū (“cattle”) and thus related to fee.

Ultimately from Latin pecūnia (“money”).

A clipped form of longer words such as "pedestrian" or "moped," depending on context.

From Greek paidagogia, from paidagogos, the slave who escorted a child to school, from pais, paidos 'child' and agogos 'leader'.

From French pédale, going back to Latin pedalis, "of the foot" — from pes/ped-, "foot."

From Middle French pedant, pedante, from Italian pedante (“a teacher, schoolmaster, pedant”), associated with unrelated Italian pedagogo (“teacher, pedagogue”). Compare French pédant.

From "pedant" (someone who shows off learning or fusses over rules) plus the adjective ending "-ic."

A back-formation from "pedlar" (someone who sells goods while traveling), the way "burgle" was formed from "burglar."

From Middle English peddere, an old word for a hawker or traveling seller of uncertain origin.

* As a Danish and Norwegian surname, borrowed from Danish and Norwegian Pedersen. Compare Petersen. * As an English surname, variant of Peterson.

From Italian piedistallo, literally "foot stand," borrowed into French and then English.

From Latin pedester, "on foot," related to pes/ped-, "foot," plus the adjective-forming suffix "-an."

From Greek pais/paid-, "child," combined with "-iatric," relating to medical treatment.

Formed from "pediatric" plus the suffix "-ian," used for people who practice a field.

From Greek pais/paid-, "child," plus "-iatrics," referring to a field of medical treatment.

From French pédicure, ultimately from Latin pes, "foot."

From Old French pié de grue, "foot of a crane," apparently because old genealogy charts had branching lines that looked like a crane's foot.

Borrowed from Late Latin pedilavium (“footbath”), from Latin pedi- (“foot”) (from pēs (“foot”)) + lavāre (“to wash”) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns).

From Greek pais/paid-, "child," and philos, "loving," modeled on the Greek word paidophiles.

From the Spanish and Portuguese name Pedro, from Latin Petrus, ultimately from Greek petros, "stone" — a relative of the English name Peter.

From the first letter of "piss," used as a milder substitute — similar to how "eff" stands in for a stronger swear word.

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

From Middle English words meaning "to peep" or "to spy," likely blending "peep" and an older word for "look narrowly."

A playful combination of "peek" and "boo," the exclamation used when revealing your face.

From Old English and Old French roots meaning "to strip the hair or skin off," ultimately from Latin pilus, "hair." A word-relative of "pill."

From peel (verb) + -ed (suffix forming past tenses).

The police sense comes from the surname of Sir Robert Peel, who founded London's Metropolitan Police — the same source as the nickname "bobby."

Probably from a North Germanic source, compare dialectal Norwegian penn (“peen”), Danish pind (“peg”), German Pinne (“the peen of a hammer”), Old Swedish pæna (“to pound iron with a hammer”).

From Middle English pepen, likely echoing the sound itself — similar words exist in Dutch and German for the chirp of small birds.

Formed from "peep" plus the agent suffix "-er."

A compound of "peep" and "hole."

The "look closely" sense comes from Middle English peren, likely from Old English roots meaning "to look" or "to peer." The "equal/nobleman" sense comes separately from Latin par, "equal."

A compound of peer, meaning an equal or someone of the same age or standing, and pressure.

From "peer" (an equal) plus "-less," literally meaning "without equal."

Variant of Piers.

Back-formation from peevish.

The adjective is derived from Late Middle English pievish, peuysche, pevish, pevysh (“capricious, wilful; perverse, wayward”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from one of the following: * From an unattested Old French word, from Latin perversus (“corrupted, perverted, subverted; overthrown”), the perfect passive participle of pervertō (“to corrupt, subvert; to overthrow”), from per- (prefix meaning ‘intensively, thoroughly’) + vertō (“to turn; to turn upside down, overturn, overthrow, subvert”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to rotate; to turn”)). However, the Oxford English Dictionary says this derivation “presents some formal difficulties”. * From Middle French *expaive + -ish (similar to; somewhat, rather). *Expaive is an unattested variant of Middle French espave, Old French espave (“(adjective) of an animal: stray; of a person: foreign; (noun) flotsam; lost property”) (referring to the behaviour of stray animals; modern French épave), from Latin expavidus (“extremely frightened or horrified”), from ex- (intensifying prefix) + pavidus (“fearful, terrified; quaking, trembling; shy, timid”) (from paveō (“to be afraid; fear; to quake or tremble with fear”) (ul

From Middle English pevyshnesse, equivalent to peevish + -ness.

Likely a playful reduplication of "wee," meaning small.

Onomatopoeic; for the pronunciation /ˈpjuːɪt/ and corresponding form pewit, compare leeward, Seward, steward.

From Middle Dutch pegge ("pin, peg"), tracing back to a Proto-Germanic word for a pointed stick or stake.

From Ancient Greek Pēgasos, likely linked to pēgē ("spring, fountain"), since the myth ties the horse's birth to a spring near the sea.

A pet form of Maggie, itself a pet form of Margaret.

Borrowed from Mandarin 裴 (Péi) or 貝／贝 (Bèi) (Wade–Giles romanisation: Pei⁴).

Variant of Pierson.

From Latin peiōrāt-, the participle stem of peiorō (“worsen”), from peior (“worse”).

From Late Latin peiōrātus (“worsened”, past participle of peiōrāre (“worsen”), from Latin peior (“worse”)) + -ive. Compare French péjoratif (“depreciative, disparaging”). By surface analysis, pejorate + -ive.

From the Abenaki apanakes (“pine marten, Martes americana”), or a Penobscot cognate of it.