paw

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English pawe, earlier powe,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman powe, also poue, beside Old French poe (12th century).^[5][6][4] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from 1121–25 for the foot or claw of an animal.^[7] Romance has related forms such as pote, Old Occitan pauta and Catalan pota (1371),^[5][3][8] and they are apparently related to Middle Dutch pote, Dutch poot and Middle Low German pōte, the source of German Pfote, though how is unclear.^[5][3] The OED thinks the further source probably a pre-Roman and pre-Celtic language,^[5] and Barnhart and Klein refer it to a pre-Celtic form behind a Gallo-Romance *pauta, Klein adding that this is probably imitative.^[3][8] Others take the French word from Germanic: the Shorter Oxford from a Frankish word represented in the Dutch one,^[9] the Oxford Dictionary of English and Collins from Germanic more generally,^[10][11] and Hoad from Proto-Germanic *pauta.^[4] Etymonline reports that the Century Dictionary takes the modern Welsh and Breton words from English and French,^[6] although Johnson had derived the English word from Welsh.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The foot or claw of a dragon: about 1330, in Arthour and Merlin, where each powe of two dragons is a span long.^[5][2] Barnhart dates the text probably before 1300.^[3] The OED's general sense, the foot of an animal with claws and pads, follows about 1440, in Sir Isumbras, where a lioness takes a child in her paws.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

From before 1450 paw was also a person's hand, at first a forceful or brutal one;^[5][3][2] the humorous sense of a clumsy hand appears in Chapman's All Fools (1605),^[3] and Green's slang dictionary quotes the human hand from 1593.^[13] A person's handwriting or signature was a paw from 1628 to 1890,^[5] and in Scottish and northern dialect a hand, figuratively handwriting.^[14] Paws off, like hands off, is recorded from 1760.^[5] The verb is first found in a political poem of about 1404, meaning to touch or strike;^[2][5] in the 16th century it was used for a person handling something roughly or greedily (1567) and for an animal striking with its paw (before 1563).^[5] Of a horse, striking or scraping the ground, it appears in Sidney's Arcadia (before 1586),^[5] and Barnhart cites the King James Bible of 1611 for it;^[3] Weekley remarks that paw was used in contrast to hoof, so to paw the ground in Job is expressive but strictly incorrect.^[15] The sense to fondle someone sexually, especially against their will, is recorded from 1857.^[13]

Timeline

• c. 1330 – powe, the foot or claw of a dragon or bird.^[5][2]
• c. 1404 – verb pawen, to touch or strike.^[2][5]
• c. 1440 – the foot of an animal with claws and pads.^[5][2]
• before 1450 – a person's hand.^[5][3]
• 1567 – verb, to grasp or strike at clumsily.^[5]
• before 1586 – of a horse, to strike the ground with the hoof.^[5]
• 1610 – in heraldry, a lion's paw on a coat of arms.^[5]
• 1628 – handwriting (obsolete by 1890).^[5]
• 1760 – paws off.^[5]
• 1857 – verb, to fondle sexually.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. The foot of a four-legged animal that has claws or nails, such as a cat, dog or bear.^[16][11][5]
2. (informal) A human hand, especially a large or clumsy one: Get your paws off my bike!^[11][16][5]
3. (heraldry) An animal's paw, especially a lion's, shown on a coat of arms.^[5]
4. (obsolete, 1628–1890) A person's handwriting or signature.^[5][14]

Verb

1. Of an animal, to touch, strike or scratch with a paw: The puppy pawed at the closed door.^[16][11][5]
2. Of a horse or similar animal, to strike or scrape the ground with a hoof.^[11][5]
3. (informal) To touch or handle clumsily, roughly or with unwelcome sexual familiarity; to maul.^{[11][16][5][13]}

Word family

• pawer
• bear's-paw
• forepaw
• southpaw

Related words

• patten
• cat's paw

Usage notes

Several unrelated words share the spelling.^[5][16] Scottish paw, a slight movement or a trick (to play a paw), is recorded from 1568 and of uncertain origin;^[5][14] Merriam-Webster takes it as probably an alteration of a northern word pawk, a trick.^[16] The interjection paw (1640–1791) and the adjective paw, improper or obscene, as in paw words (1668–1758), are variants of pah.^[5][9][13] Paw for pa, father, is chiefly American regional, recorded from 1826.^[5][9][17]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon 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 y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b c d e Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
14. ^ a b c 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)
15. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
16. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
17. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House