pass

English has two main words spelled pass: the verb “to go by”, with the nouns formed from it, and the mountain pass, a variant of pace; both go back to Latin passus “step”.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /pɑːs/, US /pæs/^[4]

pass¹ go by

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English passen, borrowed from Old French passer,^[5][2][6] from Vulgar Latin *passāre (“to step, walk, pass”),^[5][2][1] from Latin passus (“step, pace”),^[5][6] reconstructed as from Proto-Indo-European *pete- (“to spread”).^[5] Many senses of the noun come from the verb;^[2][3] others are from French passe, from passer.^[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

“To die”: probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle,^[2] and “to surpass” about 1200.^[2] Etymonline gives “to go by, cross over” in the late 13th century.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The intransitive “to go on, make one's way” is from about 1300.^[5] “To experience, spend”, as in pass the time, is by the late 14th century.^[5] “To get through an examination” is from the early 15th century.^[5] Come to pass, “to be accomplished”, is from the late 15th century, using the noun in the sense of completion.^[5] A written permission to pass a place is from 1591 in Spenser^[2] or the 1590s,^[5] a free ticket by 1838.^[5] “To decline to play”, first in cards, is from 1869,^[5] and in bridge the noun is from 1923.^[7][5] In football and other games “to send the ball to another player” is from about 1865.^[5] To make a pass, an amorous advance, is by 1928.^[5] Passable meant “that can be passed” in 1413 and “tolerable” in 1489,^[2] and password and passkey are from about 1817.^[2]

Timeline

• before 1200 – to die.^[2]
• c. 1200 – to surpass.^[2]
• late 13th century – to go by.^[5]
• early 15th century – to pass an examination.^[5]
• late 15th century – come to pass.^[5]
• 1591 – permission to pass.^[2]
• c. 1865 – to pass a ball.^[5]
• 1869 – to decline to play.^[5]
• 1928 – make a pass.^[5]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To go past; to move on or through.
2. To hand over, or to send a ball to a team-mate.
3. To succeed in an examination or test.
4. Of time, to go by; to spend time.
5. To approve, as a law.
6. To decline to play or bid.
7. To be accepted as something one is not.
8. (euphemism) To die: pass away.

Noun

1. A permit to enter or leave, or a free ticket.
2. A successful result in an examination.
3. A transfer of the ball to a team-mate.
4. A state of affairs, especially a bad one: come to a pretty pass.
5. (informal) An amorous advance.

Word family

• passable
• passer
• passing
• password
• passkey
• passport
• bypass
• overpass
• underpass
• surpass
• trespass

pass² mountain path

Etymology

The mountain pass is inherited from Middle English pas (“road, path, passage”),^[2][8] borrowed from Old French pas (“step, track, passage”),^[5][2][8] from Latin passus (“step, pace”).^[5][2][1] It is a variant of pace, restricted to the sense “passage”,^[9][3][10] with its spelling influenced by the verb pass¹ and French pas.^[9][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A road, path, passageway: probably before 1300, in Arthour and Merlin.^[2] The OED's first quotation for a narrow and difficult passage through mountains is from before 1300.^[7] Etymonline dates the mountain sense to about 1300.^[5]

Semantic evolution

A narrow strait is from before 1350,^[2] and a narrow and difficult path from before 1393, in Gower's Confessio Amantis.^[2] A passage in a text, a canto or chapter, is from about 1350 and is obsolete.^[7] A way across a river, a ford or ferry, is from 1649,^[7] and a navigable channel at a river's mouth from 1698.^[7] In military use a pass commands the entrance to a country, from 1683.^[7]

Timeline

• before 1300 – a road, passage.^[2]
• before 1350 – a narrow strait.^[2]
• before 1393 – a narrow path.^[2]
• 1649 – a river crossing.^[7]
• 1683 – a strategic pass.^[7]
• 1698 – a channel at a river's mouth.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A narrow route through mountains; a gap or defile.
2. A way across or through; a passage or channel.

Related words

• pace
• passage
• passenger
• past
• passus
• expand

Usage notes

A rare pass or pass wine, wine made from raisins, from Latin passum, was used from late Middle English to the 19th century.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press