"P" Word Origins

pwn

Origin

From own, possibly born out of a typographical error (the adjacency of o and p on qwerty keyboards).

pygmy

Greek

From Greek pugmaios, related to pugme ("fist"), originally describing a legendary race said to be as tall as a fist.

pyjamas

Persian

From Hindustani paijama/pajama, ultimately from Persian words for "leg garment."

pylon

Greek

A learned borrowing from Greek pulon, meaning "gateway."

Pyongyang

Korean

Borrowed from Korean 평양(平壤) (Pyeong'yang), literally "flat land".

Pyotr

Russian

Transliteration of Russian Пётр (Pjotr); a doublet of Peter.

pyral

Origin

From pyre + -al.

pyramid

Greek

From Greek pūramís, possibly linked to a word for wheat cake, or possibly from an ancient Egyptian phrase meaning "height of a pyramid."

pyre

Greek

A learned borrowing from Greek pura, related to pur ("fire") — a doublet of the everyday word "fire."

Pyrenees

Ancient Greek

From Latin Pȳrēnaeī (montēs), from Ancient Greek Πυρηναῖος, after Pyrene, a mythological figure said to be buried in the mountains.

pyro

Ancient Greek

A clipping of any word beginning with pyro-, which traces back to Ancient Greek pyr, meaning "fire."

pyromania

Origin

From pyro- + -mania.

pyromaniac

Origin

Built from pyro- ("fire") plus -maniac ("someone obsessed with").

pyrosis

Origin

From Ancient Greek πύρωσις (púrōsis, “burning”), from πῦρ (pûr, “fire”) + -σις (-sis, verbal noun suffix).

pyrotechnic

Origin

From Latin pyrotechnica, from Ancient Greek πῦρ (pûr, “fire”) + τεχνικός (tekhnikós, “skillful, workmanlike”). Analyzable as pyro- + technic.

pyrotechnics

Origin

From pyro- ("fire") plus technic ("skill, craft"), the same root pattern as "technique."

pyrotechnist

Origin

From pyrotechnic + -ist, from pyro- + technic.

pyrrhic

Greek

The victory sense is from Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, whose armies beat the Romans at Heraclea and Asculum in the 3rd century BC at losses so severe the wins ruined him. The metrical foot is a separate word, from Greek pyrrhiche, an ancient war dance, and has no connection to Pyrrhus.

pythagoras

Origin

From Ancient Greek Πῡθαγόρᾱς (Pūthagórās).

Python

Greek

From the Greek myth of Python, the serpent of Delphi slain by Apollo. The programming language was actually named by its creator, Guido van Rossum, after the British comedy group Monty Python, not the snake.

pythonic

Origin

From python (“snake of the family Pythonidae”) + -ic (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives from nouns). Python is derived from Latin Pȳthōn, from Ancient Greek Πῡ́θων (Pū́thōn, “Python, mythical serpent which lived at Delphi”), from Πῡθώ (Pūthṓ, “Pytho, ancient name of Delphi; Python, the mythical serpent”) (probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- (“deep; dark (?); unclear (?)”) or *puH- (“foul, rotten”)) + -ων (-ōn, suffix forming possessives).

pythons

Origin

A playful comparison between a bulging bicep and the swollen body of a python that has just swallowed a large meal.

pyxie

Origin

See pixie.