"P" Word Origins

puny

Old French

A respelling of the older word puisne ("born later, junior"), from Old French puis ("after") plus né ("born") — literally someone younger or lower in rank, which shifted in meaning to "weak" or "small."

pup

Origin

A shortened form of puppy.

pupil

Latin

From Latin pupillus ("orphan, ward, little boy"), a diminutive of pupus ("child"). The eye sense comes from the same Latin word because of the tiny reflected image of a person visible in someone's eye, like a miniature "little person."

puppet

Latin

From Middle French poupette, a diminutive of poupée ("doll"), ultimately from Latin pupa ("doll, girl"). Related to puppy, which comes from the same root.

puppeteer

Origin

From puppet plus the agent suffix -eer, as in "engineer" or "auctioneer."

puppy

Old French

Probably from Old French poupée ("doll, puppet") — the same root as puppet — since small pet dogs were once seen as living toys.

puppysitter

Origin

From puppy + sitter.

purblind

Origin

The adjective is derived from Middle English purblind (“(adjective) completely blind; blind in one eye; near-sighted; (noun) near-sighted animal, specifically a hare”) [and other forms], possibly from pur, pure (“completely, entirely”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pewH- (“to be clean; pure”); influenced by pur- (prefix meaning ‘completely; forward; in advance’)) + blind (“sightless, blind”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰlendʰ- (“to blend, mix up; to make cloudy or opaque”)). Adjective sense 4.1 (“completely blind”) was the original sense. The senses denoting partial blindness are possibly the result of confusion of the first element pur- with poor, perhaps through folk etymology. (Compare parboil regarding per versus pars.) The noun and verb are derived from the adjective.

purblindness

Origin

From purblind + -ness.

Purcell

Latin

From Latin porcellus.

purchase

Latin

From Anglo-Norman purchacer ("to seek to obtain"), from Old French pur- (from Latin pro-, "forth") plus chacier ("to chase"). Its root sense was "to pursue and get," which narrowed over time to mean "to buy."

purdy

Origin

A phonetic respelling of "pretty" reflecting how the word is pronounced in some Southern US dialects.

pure

Latin

From Old French pur, from Latin pūrus ("clean, unmixed, plain").

pureblood

Origin

From pure + blood.

purebred

Origin

From pure plus bred, the past tense of breed.

puree

French

Borrowed from French purée, from the verb purer ("to strain, purify"), ultimately related to pure.

purely

Origin

From pure plus the adverb-forming suffix -ly.

purgation

Origin

From Middle English purgacioun, borrowed from Anglo-Norman purgacion, itself borrowed from Latin pūrgātiō; equivalent to purge + -ation.

purgative

Origin

From Middle French purgatif.

purgatory

Latin

From Latin purgātōrium ("place of cleansing"), related to purge.

purge

Latin

From Old French purgier, from Latin pūrgō ("to make pure"), from pūrus ("pure") plus agō ("to do, make").

purging

Origin

From purge plus the suffix -ing.

puri

Hindi

Borrowed from Hindi पूरी (pūrī), the name of the fried bread.

purification

Latin

From Latin pūrificātiō, from pūrificāre ("to purify").

purificational

Origin

From purification + -al.

purificative

Origin

Borrowed from Latin pūrificātīvus.

purificatory

Origin

Borrowed from Latin pūrificātōrius.

purifier

Origin

From purify + -er.

purify

Latin

From Old French purifier, from Latin pūrificāre, from pūrus ("pure") plus facere ("to make").

Purim

Hebrew

From Hebrew פּוּרִים (purím), literally "lots," referring to the lots (purim) cast by Haman to choose the date for his planned massacre.

purist

French

Borrowed from French puriste, formed from pur(e) ("pure") plus the suffix -ist.

puritan

Origin

From the historical religious movement of the Puritans, who sought to "purify" the Church of England of Catholic practices.

puritanical

Latin

From puritanic (relating to the Puritans) plus the adjective suffix -al.

purity

Latin

From pure plus the noun suffix -ity, ultimately from Latin puritas.

purl

Origin

Unknown; apparently related to Scots and dialect pirl (“twist, ripple, whirl, spin”), and possibly to Older Scots pyrl ("thrust or poke at"). Compare Venetan pirlo, an embellishment where the woven threads are twisted together. May be unrelated to purfle, though the meanings are similar.

purloin

Origin

From Middle English purloynen (“to remove”), borrowed from Anglo-Norman purloigner (“to put far away”), one of the variants of Old French porloignier. Doublet of prolong.

purnell

Origin

Variant of Parnell.

purple

Latin

From Old English purpul, from purpure ("purple color"), from Latin purpura ("purple dye, shellfish"), from Greek porphúra. Historically associated with royalty because purple dye was rare and expensive, worn by emperors and kings.

Purple Heart

English

Named for the purple heart-shaped badge of merit instituted by George Washington during the American Revolutionary War, revived as the modern decoration in 1932.

purport

Origin

From Middle English purporten, from Anglo-Norman purporter and Old French porporter (“convey, contain, carry”), from pur-, from Latin pro (“forth”) + Old French porter (“carry”), from Latin portō (“carry”).

purported

Origin

From purport + -ed.

purpose

Latin

From Old French purposer ("to propose"), ultimately from Latin prōpōnere ("to put forth"), from prō- ("forth") plus pōnere ("to place").

purposeful

Origin

From purpose plus the adjective suffix -ful.

purposefully

Origin

From purposeful plus the adverb suffix -ly.

purposely

Origin

From purpose plus the adverb suffix -ly.

purposive

Origin

From purpose + -ive. Compare purpositive.

purr

Origin

Imitative of the sound itself.

purse

Medieval Latin

From Old English purs, itself partly from a word meaning "wallet, bag" and partly from Medieval Latin bursa ("leather bag") — the same root that gives us "bursar."