"P" Word Origins

po

Middle English

From Middle English po (found also in pocock), from Old English pāwa, pēa (“peacock”), from Proto-Germanic *pāwô (“peacock”), from Latin pāvō. Cognate with Dutch pauw, German Pfau. See also peacock.

POA

English

An initialism; each sense abbreviates a different phrase.

poach

Old French

From Old French pocher, "to put in a pocket" — the poached egg is thought of as tucked in a little pocket formed by its own white.

poacher

Origin

From poach + -er, "one who poaches."

POC

English

An initialism; each sense abbreviates a different phrase.

Pocahontas

Origin

From the name Pocahontas, a Powhatan name meaning roughly "she is playful."

pocket

Anglo-Norman

From Anglo-Norman poket, a diminutive of poke/poque ("bag, sack"), from Frankish *pokō ("pouch").

pocketbook

Origin · 1939

From pocket + book (1610s); later popularized as a term for cheap paperbacks by the US publisher Pocket Books after 1939.

pocketful

Origin

From pocket + -ful.

pocketknife

Origin

From pocket + knife.

pockmark

Origin

From pock + mark.

pococurante

Origin

Borrowed from French pococurante, itself - from Pococurante, a nonchalant Venetian senator in Candide, coined by Voltaire based on Italian poco (“little”) + curante (“caring”).

pod

Old English

Origin uncertain; possibly linked to an Old English word for an outer covering or garment.

podcast

Origin · 2000

A blend of "iPod" and "broadcast," coined in the mid-2000s as portable digital audio caught on.

podiatrist

Greek

From podiatry + -ist, ultimately from Greek pod- ("foot").

podium

Latin

From Latin podium, from Greek podion, "little foot," a diminutive of pous, "foot."

Poe

Origin · 2005

Named after Poe's law, an internet adage (itself named after a 2005 online commenter, not the author Edgar Allan Poe) stating that without clear markers, extreme satire is indistinguishable from sincere extremism.

poem

Greek

From Greek poiema, "a thing made," from poieo, "to make" — a poem is literally something "made" or crafted.

poesy

Origin

From Middle English poesie (Middle English po(esie) + -esy), from Middle French poesie, from Late Latin poesia, from earlier poēsis, from Ancient Greek ποίησις (poíēsis). Doublet of poiesis.

poet

Greek

From Greek poietes, "maker, creator," from poieo, "to make."

poetic

Greek

From Greek poietikos, "creative, productive," from poieo, "to make."

poetics

Origin

From the Poetics of Aristotle.

poetize

Origin

From poet + -ize.

poetry

Old French

From Greek poietes, "maker, poet," via Old French poeterie.

pog

English

Internet slang popularised through Twitch chat and the PogChamp emote. The 1990s milk-cap game of the same name takes its name from POG, a Hawaiian passionfruit-orange-guava juice whose bottle caps were used to play.

pogey

Origin

1891, meaning "poorhouse", possibly from British hobo slang. 1954 assistance.

pogo

Origin

From "pogo stick," the spring-loaded jumping toy.

pogue

Latin

From Irish póg, "kiss," ultimately from Latin pax, "peace" — the same root as the English word "peace."

poh

Origin

From p, denoting negative logarithm, and OH, denoting the hydroxyl radical.

poi

Origin

Borrowed directly from Hawaiian poi.

poignant

Latin

From Old French poindre, "to prick," from Latin pungere, "to pierce, sting" — the same root as "pungent."

Poindexter

Origin · 1959

From the surname Poindexter, popularized as slang after a bookish, socially awkward character of that name appeared in the 1959 Felix the Cat cartoon.

point

Latin

From Old French point, "dot, small amount," from Latin punctum, "a prick, small hole," from pungere, "to prick."

point of view

French

Calque of French point de vue.

pointe

French

From French pointe, "point, tip."

pointer

Origin

From point + -er.

pointful

Origin

From point + -ful.

pointing

Origin

From point + -ing.

pointless

Origin

From point + -less, literally "without a point."

pointy

Origin

From point + -y.

Poirot

French

From French Poirot.

poise

Latin

From Old French pois/poise ("weight"), from Latin pendere, "to weigh." The sense shifted from literal weighing to the modern idea of graceful balance.

poison

Latin

From Old French poison, from Latin potio, "a drink" — originally just meant "a drink" or "potion" before narrowing to mean a harmful one.

poisoner

Origin

From poison + the agent suffix -er.

poisoning

Origin

By surface analysis, poison + -ing.

poisonous

Origin

From poison + the adjective suffix -ous.

Poitiers

French

From French Poitiers, ultimately named after the Pictones, a Gaulish tribe who inhabited the region.

poke

Middle English

From Middle English poken, likely borrowed from a Middle Dutch or Low German word of imitative origin.