Etymology — The origins of English words

Unknown. First use appears c. 1758. Presumably a variant of pickle, which itself is from Middle English pekille (“spicy sauce served with meat or fish”) or pikel, from Middle Dutch pekel (“brine”); perhaps influenced by dialectal variants. Alternatively, it may be related to paco lilla (“ginger-spiced pickle”), from the 18th century British cookbook The Art of Cookery (1747–1843; e.g., 1805 edition) by Hannah Glasse (1708–1770), also referred to as Indian pickles, which suggests an Indo-Aryan source; compare mulligatawny, of Tamil origin, which also features turmeric prominently, and curry, of Tamil or Middle English origin (or a blend). Not etymologically related to Piccadilly.

From Latin plūmula, diminutive of plūma (“feather”); compare French plumule. By surface analysis, plume + -ule.

From Middle English plodder, equivalent to plod + -er.

From pea + brain; compare pea-sized.

From perpetuate + -able.

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

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

Coined from Ancient Greek φιλέω (philéō, “I love”) + ἀνδρός (andrós), genitive of ἀνήρ (anḗr, “man”), equivalent to phil- + -andry. Compare philander.

From Latin pecūlātiō (“embezzlement”) from pecūlor (“to defraud the public”), related to pecūlium (“property in cattle, private property”), from pecū (“cattle, money”).

Blend of preference + referendum.

From prick + teaser.

From pout + -er.

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 平壤 (Píngrǎng).

From Latin patella (“a small pan or dish, a plate; the kneepan, patella”), diminutive of patina (“a broad shallow dish, pan”). Doublet of paella.

From Latin Parthenopē, from Ancient Greek Παρθενόπη (Parthenópē, from παρθένος (parthénos, “virgin, virginal”) + ὄψ (óps, “voice”)).

From Romani patrin (“leaf”), perhaps specifically from an inflected form like Vlax Romani pateryánsa.

From precedent + -ency.

From Middle English prepuce, prepuse, from Old French prepuce (“foreskin”), from Latin praepūtium (“prepuce, foreskin”), a combination of prae- (“fore-”) + Old Latin pūtos (“penis”).

From Russian Петрогра́д (Petrográd). The portion Петро (Petro, “Petros”), from Ancient Greek Πέτρος (Pétros) and German Peter, from Dutch Pieter, from Sankt Pieter (“Saint Peter”), from Apostle Peter and Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia and then Emperor. The portion град (grad, “city”), from German Burg (“city, castle”), from Dutch burch (“town, fortress”). Петрогра́д (Petrográd, “Petrograd”) from German Sankt Petersburg (“Санкт-Петербургъ (Sankt-Peterburg)”), from Dutch Sankt-Pieter-Burch (“Сант-Питер-Бурхъ (Sant-Piter-Burx)”), the Russian city was named in Dutch instead of Russian by Peter the Great.

From earlier prex + -y.

By surface analysis, permille + -age.

From Middle English planer, planere, equivalent to plane + -er.

From pisci- + capture.

Partly from Latin prāxis and partly from its etymon Ancient Greek πρᾶξις (prâxis, “action, activity, practice”).