Etymologically
Log in

palm

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 10:09. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

English has two words spelled palm, both from Latin palma, palm of the hand: the tree, taken into Old English, and the inner surface of the hand, which came later through French.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /pɑːm/, /pɑm/[4]

palm1 tree

Etymology

The tree is inherited from Old English palma, palm, borrowed from Latin palma (“palm tree; palm of the hand”),[1][2][5][6] an early borrowing like Old Saxon palma, Old High German palma and Old Norse pálmr,[5][2][6] reinforced in Middle English by Old French palme.[1][5] The tree is named from the shape of its leaves, like a hand with spread fingers.[2][1][7] Etymonline notes that the word reached northern Europe, where the tree does not grow, through Christianity.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

About 825 in the OED, before 830 in Barnhart.[8][1]

Semantic evolution

A leaf or branch of the palm, carried as a symbol of victory, is from about 1200,[8] and figuratively victory or supreme honour, as in bear the palm, from about 1386, the late 14th century in Etymonline.[8][2] Word Origins says that in ancient Rome a palm branch was placed in the hands of the victor.[3] Palm Sunday is Old English palm-sunnandæg,[2] and in northern Europe other branches, such as willow, were used instead of palm from 1375.[8] Palm oil, from the fruit, is from 1705,[2] and the hotel palm court by 1908.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 825 – the palm tree.[8]
  • c. 1200 – a palm branch as a symbol of victory.[8]
  • c. 1386 – victory, prize.[8]
  • 1705 – palm oil.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Any of a family of tropical and subtropical trees, usually with a tall unbranched trunk crowned by large fronds.
  2. A palm leaf as a symbol of victory; victory or honour.

Word family

  • palmy
  • palm oil
  • Palm Sunday
  • palmetto

palm2 inside of the hand

Etymology

The hand is Middle English palme, paume, borrowed from Old French palme, paume, from Latin palma (“palm of the hand”),[1][2][6] cognate with Ancient Greek παλάμη (palámē, “palm of the hand”), Old Irish lám and Old English folm (“hand”) (see fumble),[1][2] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *pele- (“flat; to spread”).[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The flat of the hand: probably before 1300, in Kyng Alisaunder, in Barnhart;[1] about 1300 in Etymonline.[2]

Semantic evolution

The verb, to conceal in the hand, as cheats do with cards or dice, is from the 1670s, as is to impose something on someone by fraud;[2][3] palm off is from 1822.[2] To touch or stroke with the palm is from the late 15th century.[9] Palm oil as a pun for a bribe (1620s) is earlier than the literal oil.[2] Reading the lines of the palm is palmistry.[10]

Timeline

  • before 1300 – the palm of the hand.[1]
  • 1620s – palm oil, a bribe.[2]
  • 1670s – to conceal in the hand.[2]
  • 1822 – palm off.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The inner surface of the hand between the wrist and the fingers.
  2. The part of a glove covering the palm.

Verb

  1. To hide something in the hand, as in a conjuring trick.
  2. palm off: to get rid of something by deception.

Word family

  • palmistry
  • palmar
  • palmate

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin