"P" Word Origins

From purse plus the agent suffix -er, originally referring to someone who managed the ship's money.

From pursue + -al.

From Anglo-Norman pursuant, the present participle of pursure ("to pursue"). A doublet of pursuivant.

From pursuant + -ly.

From Anglo-Norman pursure, from Latin prōsequor ("to follow after"). A doublet of prosecute.

From pursue + -er.

From Old French poursuite, tied to the verb "to pursue" — literally the act of following after.

Variant of Purvis.

From Middle English purveiour (“one who procures or supplies necessities, provider; city, military, religious, or household employee in charge of provisions, steward; one in charge, overseer; one who goes ahead to prepare the way, forerunner; one who arranges accommodations for a traveller; (figurative) one who gathers greedily”), from Anglo-Norman purveour, Middle French pourveur, pourvoyeur, and (chiefly Northern) Old French purveour (“one who procures or supplies necessities or things in general; one who arranges or prepares something”) (modern French pourvoyeur), from porveoir, purveer, purveir (“to equip, furnish, provide, purvey; to foresee; to look at; to obtain, procure”) (modern French pourvoir) + -or (suffix forming agent nouns). Porveoir is derived from Latin prōvidēre, the present active infinitive of prōvideō (“to care for, look after; to foresee; to provide, see to”), from prō- (prefix meaning ‘before; forward’) + videō (“to see; to look out for, care for, provide, see to”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see”)). By surface analysis, purvey + -or (suffix forming agent nouns denoting people or things which do the actions denoted by the stems). Doublet

From Anglo-Norman legal phrasing meaning roughly "it is provided," later shaped by influence from the word "view."

Perhaps from Middle English purveys ("provisions, supplies"), an occupational surname for a supplies official.

From Middle English pus (15th c.), a borrowing from Latin pus (“pus”). Widely displaced quitter and atter in this sense.

From pus + bag.

From Old French pousser, from Latin pulsare ("to beat or strike"), the same root that gives us "pulse" and "pulsate."

From push + back, or push back.

The noun is derived from push + bike. The verb is derived from the noun.

Simply "push" plus the agent suffix "-er" — someone or something that does the pushing.

American hip-hop slang, popularised through Atlanta rap in the early 2020s. The P is explained variously as standing for player, paper or positivity; no single reading is settled.

Transliteration of Russian Пу́шкин (Púškin).

Formed from "push over" — something (or someone) so weak it topples with the slightest push.

Borrowed from Sanskrit पुष्प (puṣpa, "flower").

From "push" plus the adjective suffix "-y."

Likely from an old Germanic word for a cat, possibly imitating a sound used to call one over.

From puss + -ums.

From "puss" (a pet name for a cat) plus the diminutive suffix "-y."

From pussy (“feline”) + foot; because of the light and careful tread of cats.

From pussy + girl.

From Middle English pustule, from Old French pustule, from Latin pustula (“inflamed sore, blister”).

From Old English roots meaning "to push" or "to thrust" — the sense of physically placing something came later.

From Spanish puta, tracing back through Vulgar Latin to a root meaning simply "girl" or "young woman," which later took on a derogatory sense.

First attested c. 1432, from Middle French putatif, from Latin putātīvus (“supposed, purported”), from putātus (“thought”), from putō (“to think, to consider, to reckon”).

Transliteration of Russian Пу́тин (Pútin).

From an Old English personal name Putta, genitive Puttan, + hȳþ ("landing place").

Borrowed from Tagalog puto, itself from Malay putu, which traces back to a Tamil word for a steamed rice dish — a chain of borrowing that followed centuries of trade across South and Southeast Asia.

Borrowed from Latin pūtrefacient.

First attested between 1350 and 1400 from Middle English putrefaccioun, from Old French putrefaccïon, from Latin putrefactiō, from putrefactus, perfect passive participle of putrefaciō (“become rotten”)

From Middle French putréfier.

Attested since circa 1730, from Latin pūtrēscēns (“rotting”), present participle of pūtrēscō (“rot”).

From Latin putridus, "rotten," related to putreo, "to be rotten."

Borrowed from German Putsch, from Alemannic German Putsch (“knock, thrust, blow”), of imitative origin.

Borrowed from Scots putt, meaning "to put" or "to push."

An altered form of "potter," used the same way in American English.

From put + -ing.

From French potée, originally referring to the contents of a pot, from pot.

From Yiddish pots, originally a crude word for the penis, later softened into general slang for a fool.

Origin uncertain, though it's linked to old dialect words meaning to potter, trifle, or search about in confusion.

From puzzle + -ment.

From puzzle + -er.