Where does “pinch” come from?
Pinch comes from Middle English pinchen, from Old French pincer, from Vulgar Latin pincio, from Latin punctio, derived from punctus, the past participle of pangere, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European pewḱ-, meaning to prick or pierce.
pinch (English): To squeeze a small amount of a person's skin and...
Definitions
- To squeeze a small amount of a person's skin and...
Ancestry of “pinch”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | pinchen | — |
| 2 | Old French | pincer | to pinch |
| 3 | Vulgar Latin | pincio | to puncture, pinch; I puncture, prick, pierce,... |
| 4 | Latin | punctiō | puncture, pricking |
| 5 | Latin | -tiō | tion, -ation, -ing |
| 6 | Latin | dissertātiō | (spoken) dissertation, discourse, disquisition |
| 7 | Latin | dissertus | arranged, disposed; explained |
| 8 | Latin | disserere | second-person singular future passive indicative... |
| 9 | Latin | dis- | asunder, apart, in two; reversal, removal;... |
| 10 | Latin | calceus | shoe |
| 11 | Latin | calx | limestone; chalk; the finish line |
| 12 | Ancient Greek | χάλιξ | small stone, pebble; gravel, rubble |