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pass

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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.
  • 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