"P" Word Origins

panty

Origin · 1845

Recorded from 1845 as a diminutive of "pants," originally meaning boys' drawers before shifting to women's underwear by the early 1900s.

pantyhose

Origin

A combination of "panty" and "hose."

panzer

Latin

Borrowed from German Panzer ("armour"), from Old French panciere ("coat of mail"), ultimately from Latin pantex ("belly, paunch").

pao

Origin

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 炮 (pào), meaning "cannon."

Paola

Italian

Borrowed from Italian Paola.

Paolino

Italian

Borrowed from Italian Paolino.

Paolo

Italian

Borrowed from Italian Paolo — a doublet of the English name "Paul."

pap

Middle English

From Middle English pap, related to similar words across Germanic and Romance languages for soft food — likely originating in baby-talk.

papa

Origin

From French papa, from Middle French papa, from Old French papa, from Latin papa, probably originally a reduplicated imitation of a child's early efforts at vocalising Latin pater (“father”). Compare Ancient Greek πάππας (páppas, “papa, daddy”).

papacy

Medieval Latin

From Medieval Latin pāpātia, from Latin pāpa ("pope") + the suffix -tia.

papal

Medieval Latin

From Old French papal and Medieval Latin pāpālis, from pāpa ("pope").

paparazzo

Italian

Borrowed from Italian, taken from the surname of a photographer character in Federico Fellini's film La Dolce Vita.

papaya

Spanish

Borrowed from Spanish papaya, from an Indigenous Caribbean (Lokono) word — a doublet of "pawpaw."

paper

Latin

From Old French papier, going back through Latin papyrus to Greek papyros — the same word that gives us "papyrus," the reed the ancient Egyptians made writing material from.

paperback

Origin

From paper + back, shortened from the older phrase "paper-backed book."

paperboard

Origin

From paper + board.

paperboy

Origin

From paper + boy.

paperfolding

Origin

From paper + folding.

paperweight

Origin

From paper + weight.

paperwork

Origin

From paper + work.

paphian

Origin

From Latin Paphius [from Ancient Greek Πάφιος (Páphios), from Πάφος (Páphos, “Paphos”) + -ιος (-ios)] + English -an.

papi chulo

Spanish

From Spanish papi, an affectionate diminutive of papá 'father', and chulo, which in Spanish means both 'cute, attractive' and, in older usage, 'pimp' or 'flashy'.

papirosa

Origin

Borrowed from Russian папиро́са (papirósa), from Polish papieros (“cigarette”), from papier (“paper”) with the ending added from Spanish cigarros and the stem being from German Papier, from Late Middle High German papier, from Latin papȳrus, papȳrum, from Ancient Greek πάπυρος (pápuros, “papyrus”), supposedly of Egyptian origin.

papoose

Origin

Borrowed from Narragansett papoos (“a child”).

Pappas

Greek

From Greek παπάς (papás, “priest”).

pappy

Origin

From pap ("soft food") + -y.

paprika

Latin

Via Hungarian paprika, ultimately from Latin piper ("pepper") through Serbo-Croatian, tracing back to the same ancient root as the word "pepper."

Papua

Origin

There are three theories: * From Malay pepuah (“curly (of hair)”) for the natives of the island of New Guinea. * From Ternate/Tidore papo ua (“not united; not coalesced”), referring to the territory that geographically was far away from the Sultanate of Tidore (and thus not united). The territory was called papo ua gam sio (“nine village/region that is not united”). * From Biak sup i babwa (“the land below [the sunset]”), referring to the islands (Raja Ampat) west of the Bird's Head, as far as Halmahera.

papyraceous

Origin

From Latin papȳrāceus (“made of papyrus”) under influence of Middle French papyracee and French papiracé.

papyriferous

Origin

From Latin papȳrifer + -ous (“forming adjectives”), from papyrus + -fer (“-bearing”).

papyrine

Origin

From Latin papȳrīnus, from papȳrus + -īnus (suffix forming relational adjectives), equivalent to papyrus + -ine. Cf. Ancient Greek πᾰπῡ́ρῐνος (păpū́rĭnos).

papyrocentric

Origin

From papyro- + -centric.

papyrocracy

Origin

From papyro- (“papyrus, paper”) + -cracy (“rule by”).

papyrograph

Origin

From papyro- + -graph.

papyrographer

Origin

From papyro- (“papyrus, paper”) + -grapher (“writer”) and papyrograph + -er.

papyrographic

Origin

From papyrograph + -ic and papyrography + -ic.

papyrography

Origin

From papyro- + -graphy and papyrograph + -y.

papyrological

Origin

From papyrology + -ical.

papyrus

Latin

From Latin papyrus, from Greek papyros — the ultimate source of the word "paper" itself.

par

Latin

From French par ("through, by"), from Latin per.

para

Persian

From Ottoman Turkish pare/para, from Persian pâre.

parable

Latin

From Greek parabole ("comparison") via Latin and Old French — a doublet of "parabola" and "palaver."

parabolic

Greek

From Greek parabolikos, related to "parabola."

Paracelsus

Latin

A Latinized name likely built to mean "surpassing Celsus," a nod to the ancient Roman medical writer.

paracetamol

Origin

A shortened form of the chemical name para-acetylaminophenol.

parachronistic

Origin

Superficially para- (“beside; next to, parallel”) + chronistic. Compare anachronistic.

parachute

French

From French parachute, combining para- ("protection against") and chute ("fall").

parachuting

Origin

From parachute + -ing.