pectoral

Etymology

The noun is partly borrowed from Middle French pectoral and partly borrowed from Latin pectorāle (“breastplate”),^[2][3][4][5] the noun use of the neuter of pectorālis (“of or relating to the chest”).^[2][3][6] The Middle English Dictionary gives the same double source for pectoral, also spelled pectorel.^[7] The adjective, recorded later, is likewise from the Middle French adjective and directly from the Latin one,^[2][4][8] though Barnhart thinks it may also be partly from the English noun.^[4] Pectorālis is formed from pectus (“breast, chest”) and the suffix -ālis.^[2][4][5] Etymonline calls pectus a word of unknown origin and reports that de Vaan takes Old Irish ucht (“breast, chest”) as a likely cognate.^[3] Merriam-Webster Unabridged relates it to Tocharian A päśśäṃ (“the two breasts”) and perhaps to the Old Irish word,^[5] and Klein suggests that the Latin and Tocharian words first meant "the hairy part of the body", from a base Proto-Indo-European *pek- (“hairy, woolly”), which he also sees in pecus (“cattle”) and pectō (“to comb”).^[8] The OED compares Italian pettorale, recorded from the 13th century both as a noun and as an adjective.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The part of a horse's harness or trappings that lies over its chest: 1422–3, in the account rolls of Durham Abbey.^[2] Barnhart's first record, from the same year, is of an ornament worn on the breast, in Lydgate,^[4] a sense the OED dates from before 1439, in Lydgate's Fall of Princes.^[2] The adjective "of or relating to the chest" is recorded from before 1500 in the OED,^[2] but only from 1578 in Barnhart.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the noun meant an ornament for the breast, an ornamental collar, an ornament worn on the breast with church vestments and the breastplate of the Jewish high priest, as well as a piece of a horse's trappings.^[7][2] The horse senses, ornamental cloth and then armour for the horse's chest, died out by the 1820s,^[2][9] and the meaning "breastplate of armour" for a person lasted from 1656 to 1834.^[2] In medicine the adjective meant "good for chest complaints" from 1576,^[9][4] and the noun, from 1599, was a medicine or food taken for the chest, especially an expectorant; the OED calls this sense now rare and mainly American.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined the adjective simply as "belonging to the breast" and the noun as a breastplate.^[10] The anatomical uses came later: Etymonline dates pectoral muscle to the 1610s,^[3] and the noun, short for it, is recorded from 1702,^[2] or 1758 in Etymonline,^[3] and short for pectoral fin from before 1808.^[2] Etymonline dates the slang clipping pec to 1966.^[3] A figurative adjective, relating to a person's inner feelings, is recorded from before 1631;^[9] Merriam-Webster Unabridged defines it as coming from the heart as the seat of emotion,^[5] and Collins calls the sense "heartfelt" rare.^[11]

Timeline

• 1422 – the part of a horse's trappings over the chest (obsolete by 1662).^[2]
• before 1439 – an ornamental cloth or plate worn on the chest, especially with ceremonial dress.^[2]
• before 1500 – adjective, of or relating to the chest.^[2]
• 1576 – adjective, good for chest complaints.^[9][4]
• 1590 – armour for a horse's chest (obsolete by 1824).^[2]
• 1599 – noun, a medicine good for the chest.^[2]
• 1610s – pectoral muscle.^[3]
• 1616 – adjective, worn on the chest, as in pectoral cross.^[9]
• before 1631 – figurative, relating to one's inner feelings.^[9]
• 1656 – a breastplate of armour (obsolete by 1834).^[2]
• 1702 – noun, a pectoral muscle.^[2]
• before 1808 – noun, a pectoral fin.^[2]
• 1966 – the clipping pec.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of, relating to, or situated on the chest or breast: the pectoral region of a bird.^[11][5][2]
2. Worn on the chest: a bishop's pectoral cross.^[11][5]
3. Good for disorders of the lungs or respiratory tract: a pectoral cough syrup.^[5][2]
4. (rare) Coming from the heart; heartfelt or subjective.^[11][5]

Noun

1. A pectoral muscle; usually in the plural.^[11][5][2]
2. A pectoral fin.^[11][5][2]
3. An ornament or protective plate worn on the chest, such as the breastplate of the Jewish high priest or one worn with vestments.^[11][5][2]
4. A medicine for disorders of the chest or lungs.^[11][2]
5. (obsolete, 1422–1662) A cloth or piece of trappings covering a horse's chest.^[2][5]

Word family

• pectorally
• interpectoral
• subpectoral
• pec
• prepectoral
• pectoral cross
• pectoral arch
• pectoral girdle

Related words

• pectus
• poitrel
• expectorate
• parapet

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 o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b 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)
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d e f Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c d e f g h Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins