Etymologically
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packet

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 21:39. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈpæk.ɪt/[1]
  • US: /ˈpæk.ɪt/[1]

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

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)