"P" Word Origins

postman

Origin

A compound of post (mail) and man.

postmark

Origin

A compound of post (mail) and mark.

postmaster

Origin

A compound of post (mail) and master.

postmonition

Origin

By analogy with premonition.

postmortem

Latin

From Latin post mortem, "after death".

postpartum

Latin

From Latin post ('after') and partum ('having given birth'), from pario ('to bring forth').

postpone

Latin

From Latin postpono, from post ('after') plus pono ('to put, place') — literally 'to put after.'

postponement

Origin

Formed from postpone plus the noun suffix -ment.

postponence

Origin

From postpone + -ence.

postquel

Origin

Either blend of post + sequel or from post- (“after”) + quel, by synonym with sequel.

postscript

Origin

From New Latin postscriptum, from Latin, neuter of postscriptus, past participle of postscrībō (“write after”), from post (“after”) + scrībō (“write”). By surface analysis, post- + script.

posture

Latin

From Middle French posture, from Italian postura, from Latin positura ('position').

posy

Origin

Syncopic form of poesy (“poetry”).

pot

Old French

From Old English pott and Old French pot, both likely traced back to a Frankish word for a container, ultimately from a very old root meaning 'vessel.' The slang sense for marijuana is unrelated and probably comes from Mexican Spanish potiguaya.

potable

Origin

The adjective is derived from Late Middle English potable (“drinkable, potable”), from Middle French, Old French potable (modern French potable (“drinkable, potable”)), and from its etymon Late Latin pōtābilis (“drinkable, potable”), from Latin pōtāre (“to drink”) + -bilis (suffix forming adjectives indicating a capacity or worth of being acted upon). Pōtāre is the present active infinitive of pōtō (“to drink”), from Proto-Italic *pōtos, from Proto-Indo-European *peh₃- (“to drink”). The English word is cognate with Catalan potable, Italian potabile, Spanish potable. The noun is derived from the adjective.

potage

Origin

Borrowed from French potage, and from earlier borrowing pottage.

potash

Origin

From pot + ash, because the substance was originally obtained by leaching ash in water and then boiling down the resulting solution in a pot. Compare Dutch potas, German Pottasche.

potassium

Origin · 1807

Coined in 1807 by British chemist Humphry Davy from potash (the ash-derived compound it was first isolated from) plus the chemical suffix -ium.

potation

Origin

From Middle English potacion, from Old French potacion, from Latin pōtātiō.

potato

Spanish

Borrowed from Spanish patata, which itself came from the Taíno word batata, meaning sweet potato.

potbelly

Origin

From pot + belly.

potence

Origin

Borrowed from Middle French potence (“power, a crutch”), from Latin potentia (“power, in Medieval Latin also crutch”), from potens (“powerful”); see potent.

potency

Latin

From Latin potentia ('power'), the same root that gives us potent and potential.

potent

Latin

From Latin potens ('powerful'), the present participle of posse ('to be able').

potentate

Origin

From Middle English potentat, from Old French, from Late Latin potentātus (“rule, political power”), from Latin potēns (“powerful, strong”), the active present participle of possum (“to be able”).

potential

Late Latin

From Late Latin potentialis, based on Latin potentia ('power'), itself from potens ('powerful').

potentially

Origin

Formed from potential plus the adverb suffix -ly.

pothead

Origin

From pot (marijuana) plus -head, a suffix used for describing someone strongly associated with a thing or habit.

pother

Origin

Origin uncertain. Compare Dutch peuteren (“to rummage, poke”), and English potter, pudder.

potherb

Origin

From pot + herb.

potholder

Origin

From pot + holder.

pothole

Origin

From a dialect word pot, meaning a pit or hollow, plus hole.

potion

Latin

From Old French pocion, from Latin potio ('a drinking, a drink'), from potare ('to drink'). It's a close relative of the word poison.

potluck

Origin

From pot plus luck — originally referring to whatever food happened to be in the cooking pot for unexpected guests.

Potomac

Origin · 1931

An Anglicized version of an Algonquian place name, possibly meaning "place where goods are traded," with spelling standardized by the US government in 1931.

potomania

Origin

From Latin pōtō (“to drink (liquor)”) + -mania.

potpourri

French

From French pot-pourri, literally 'rotten pot,' a translation of the Spanish olla podrida — originally the name of a stew, later applied to a mixture of anything.

potshot

Origin

From pot + shot. 1858, shot taken for the (cooking) pot, namely for food; see pothunter. Sense “opportunistic criticism” from 1926. Sense “drunk” from obsolete pot (“cup used for drinking liquor”).

potted

Origin

From pot plus -ed. The 'condensed summary' sense grew out of the earlier idea of potted meat, i.e. preserved and compressed food, later applied to compressed information.

potter

Old English

From Old English pottere, meaning pot-maker, formed from pot plus the agent suffix -er.

pottery

Old French

From Old French poterie, from potier ('potter'), ultimately from pot.

potty

Origin

From pot (chamber pot) plus the diminutive suffix -y.

POTUS

English

An initialism of President of the United States, from a family of abbreviations used in official and press shorthand alongside FLOTUS and SCOTUS.

pouch

Old French

From Old Northern French pouche, from Old French poche, ultimately from a Frankish word for a bag — the same root that gave us poke and pocket.

pouf

Origin

From French pouf, pouff, of imitative origin; compare puff.

Poughkeepsie

Origin

From a Wappinger (Munsee) phrase roughly meaning 'the reed-covered lodge by the little-water place.'

poultice

Latin

From Latin pultes, "porridge" — the same root as the word "pulse" (as in edible legumes).

poultry

Latin

From Old French pouleterie, from poule ("hen"), ultimately from Latin pullus, "young animal" — the same root that gives us "pullet" and "foal".