packet

Etymology

It is apparently from English pack + -et, a diminutive of the noun pack,^[2][3][4][5] perhaps modelled on or formed in Anglo-Norman paket,^[3][4][6][7] which the Anglo-Norman Dictionary records from 1176, as a surname.^[8] The OED finds it hard to tell whether the English word was borrowed from pacquet (1368) or the French word from English, or whether both were formed independently.^[2] Barnhart notes that the OED and the FEW favour an English origin for the French word, while the MED treats the Middle English word as a borrowing from Old French.^[4] Merriam-Webster derives it from Middle French, from the verb pacquer (“to pack”), ultimately from Middle Dutch pak,^[9] and Etymonline and Klein call the French word a diminutive of the Middle Dutch noun or of a related continental Germanic word.^[3][10] Weekley took it as Anglo-Norman, the source of paquet, Italian pacchetto and Spanish paquete.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

A small pack, package or parcel: before about 1450, in a Middle English collection of Miracles of Our Lady,^[2] where Barnhart reads the form pekette;^[4] Etymonline notes the surname Paket from the late 12th century.^[3] According to the OED, as quoted by Etymonline, it was at first used of a parcel of letters or dispatches, especially the state mail between England and foreign countries.^[3][12]

Semantic evolution

Because the state packet of letters was carried by sea, a packet boat (1640s) was at first a ship carrying the mails between ports, and later any vessel sailing on fixed dates;^[3][6][11] the short form packet for such a ship is recorded before 1670.^[2] Weekley notes that French paquebot was borrowed from the English compound.^[11] A figurative packet, a collection, survives in a packet of lies, and to sell someone a packet, to deceive them, is recorded in slang dictionaries from Grose (1785) on;^[2][13] in Devon dialect to sell a packet meant to hoax.^[14] In the 20th century British soldiers spoke of copping a packet, being hit by a bullet or meeting trouble (1916),^[2][13] and a large sum of money became a packet (1922, in Michael Arlen).^[2][13] Science adopted the word for a wave packet in physics (1928) and for a unit of data in computing (1966),^[2] and Etymonline dates packet-switching to 1971.^[3]

Timeline

• late 12th century – Paket, as a surname.^[3]
• ?a1450 – a small pack or parcel.^[2]
• 1589 – figurative, a collection or set, as in a packet of lies.^[2]
• 1640s – packet boat, a mail boat.^[3]
• a1670 – packet, short for packet boat.^[2]
• 1785 – slang, a false report, as in sell someone a packet.^[13]
• 1916 – a bullet or wound; trouble.^[2]
• 1922 – a large sum of money.^[2]
• 1966 – in computing, a unit of data for transmission.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A small container of paper, card or plastic and its contents, in which goods are sold; a small package or parcel: a packet of seeds.
2. (computing) A unit of data sent as one block over a network.
3. (colloquial, chiefly British) A large sum of money: The repairs cost them a packet.
4. A packet boat, a ship carrying mail, passengers and goods on a regular route.
5. (South Africa) A plastic carrier bag.

Verb

1. To wrap up or put into a packet.

Word family

• wave packet

Related words

• pack
• package
• packet boat
• parcel

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
14. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)