| 1 | Middle English | poete | poet |
| 2 | Middle French | poëte | Alternative form of poete |
| 3 | Old French | poete | poet |
| 4 | Latin | poēta | — |
| 5 | Ancient Greek | ποιητής | A maker, inventor, lawgiver; The composer of a... |
| 6 | Ancient Greek | -τής | Appended to verbs to form agent nouns |
| 7 | Ancient Greek | πεῖρα | trial, experiment, attempt |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | per- | before, in front; first; to go through |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | pr̥tós | passed , crossed |