Where does “putain” come from?
putain (Old French) comes from Vulgar Latin putta, from Latin puta, from Latin puto, from Latin putus, from Proto-Indo-European puHtós, from Proto-Indo-European pewH- — to be clean, pure.
putain (Old French): whore, prostitute, bitch
Ancestry of “putain”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Vulgar Latin | putta | prostitute |
| 2 | Latin | puta | second-person singular present active imperative... |
| 3 | Latin | puto | I clean, cleanse; I trim, prune, lop; I arrange,... |
| 4 | Latin | putus | pure; a boy |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | puHtós | pure, clean |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | pewH- | to be clean, pure |
Words derived from “putain”