Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “pivot” come from?

Pivot comes from Old French pivot, a word of unknown origin denoting the pin or peg on which something turns.

pivot (English): A thing on which something turns; specifically a...

Definitions

  1. A thing on which something turns; specifically a...

Ancestry of “pivot”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Catalanpevet—
2Catalanpeufoot
3Old Occitanpefoot
4Latinpēdem—
5Proto-Indo-Europeanpṓdsfoot
6Proto-Indo-Europeanpóds—
7Proto-Indo-Europeanped-to walk, to step; to stumble, to fall

Words derived from “pivot”

  • pivotal
  • pivoting
  • pivotally
  • unpivot
  • pivotable
  • pivotality
  • pivotalness
  • pivoter
  • nonpivotal
  • pivotlike
  • pivotman
  • nonpivoting
  • pivotably
  • pivotless
  • repivot
Every word from Proto-Indo-European ped- →