Etymology — The origins of English words

precatory

Origin

From Late Latin precatorius, from Latin precari (“to pray”).

pessary

Origin

From Middle English pessarie, from Old French pessaire, from Latin pessarium.

paraphernal

Origin

From Medieval Latin paraphernālis, from Late Latin parapherna + Latin -ālis (suffix forming adjectives). By surface analysis, paraphern(a) + -al.

periscopic

Origin

From periscope + -ic.

paskudnyak

Origin

From Yiddish פּאַסקודניאַק (paskudnyak), traceable to Polish and Ukrainian.

postmonition

Origin

By analogy with premonition.

personate

Origin

From Latin persōnātus.

pejorative

Origin

From Late Latin peiōrātus (“worsened”, past participle of peiōrāre (“worsen”), from Latin peior (“worse”)) + -ive. Compare French péjoratif (“depreciative, disparaging”). By surface analysis, pejorate + -ive.

plicature

Origin

From Latin plicatura, from plicare (“to fold”).

postfrontal

Origin

From post- + frontal.

plateful

Origin

From plate + -ful.

polydactyly

Origin

From Ancient Greek πολυδάκτυλος (poludáktulos) + -y, from πολυ- (polu-, “many”) + δάκτυλος (dáktulos, “digits”), equivalent to poly- + dactyly or polydactyl + -y.^((Etymology 3))

physicalness

Origin

From physical + -ness.

pinken

Origin

From pink + -en.

pettifog

Origin

Back-formation from pettifogger.

poh

Origin

From p, denoting negative logarithm, and OH, denoting the hydroxyl radical.

pinafore

Origin

Univerbation of pin + afore. The pinafore was originally pinned to the front of a dress, as it had no buttons.

pidgin

Origin

From pidgin English, from a Chinese Pidgin English pronunciation of English business during trade in the Far East. All attestations of pidgin from the first half of the nineteenth century given in the third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary mean “business; an action, occupation, or affair” (the earliest being from 1807). Other suggested derivations include: * Hebrew פִּדְיוֹן (pidyón, “exchange; trade; redemption”) * Chinese pronunciation of Portuguese ocupação (“occupation; business”) * South Seas pronunciation of beach * Portuguese baixo (“low”)

pentathlon

Origin

Borrowed from Ancient Greek πένταθλον (péntathlon), from πέντε (pénte, “five”) + ἆθλον (âthlon, “contest”). By surface analysis, penta- + -athlon.

perennity

Origin

From perenn + -ity, from Latin perennitas.

permanganate

Origin

From per- + manganate.

prickhead

Origin

From prick (“penis”) + -head.

parse

Origin

Possibly from Middle English pars (“parts, shares; parts of speech, grammar”), from Old French pars (plural of part (“part, portion, share”)), from Latin pars (“part, piece, share”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to carry forth; to sell”).

primordium

Origin

Borrowed from Latin prīmōrdium.