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pelt

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Etymology and origin of the English word pelt

Pronunciation

pelt1 animal skin

Confidence
Disputed
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1303
Borrowed from
Anglo-Norman pelette
Ultimate origin
Latin pellis

Etymology

The word for an animal's skin is of uncertain immediate origin.[2][3] It may be borrowed from Anglo-Norman pelette, also pellet, shortened by the loss of a syllable;[2][4][5] the Anglo-Norman word is recorded from the late 12th century, also for the skin of a small animal.[6] Barnhart finds pelet in 1298,[7] and the OED compares Medieval Latin pelta, used in British sources in 1268 and 1282, and peletta.[2] Old French pelete (“membrane, fine skin”) is a diminutive of pel (“skin”),[8][7][3] from Latin pellis (“skin, hide”),[8][7][3][5] from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“skin, hide”).[3][8] Others take it as a back-formation from peltry,[9][10][11][12][13] but the OED points out that this word is first attested later;[2] Barnhart dates peltry to 1436.[7] The OED also compares Middle High German belz, German Pelz, Middle Dutch pels and Dutch pels.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The hide of an animal, especially a sheepskin: 1303, in a customs list that speaks of skins que Anglice vocantur peltis sine lana, "which in English are called pelts, without wool".[14][2][7] Etymonline dates the noun only to the early 15th century,[3] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged likewise to the 15th.[9]

Semantic evolution

From the hide with its wool or hair on, the word extended in 1482, in the Cely letters, to the raw skin stripped for tanning.[2] Etymonline and the Shorter Oxford date that sense to the 16th century.[3][15] From 1511 to 1757 it was also a contemptuous term for a mean or withered person, likened to a dried skin.[2] Falconers used it from 1615 for the dead quarry of a hawk,[2] and Johnson (1755) listed that after "skin; hide".[16] Applied to the human skin, especially when bare, it is recorded from 1622 in Middleton and Rowley's The Changeling,[17] and before 1626 in the OED,[2] and in one's pelt means naked;[17][15] this use is now chiefly Irish English[2] or jocular.[15] In Scottish and English dialects it was used especially of a sheepskin without the wool.[18] The verb, "to strip the pelt from", was formed from the noun by 1568.[2][15][9]

Timeline

  • 1303 – the hide of an animal, especially a sheep.[2][14][7]
  • 1482 – the raw skin, stripped of its wool or hair.[2]
  • 1511 – a mean or withered person (obsolete by 1757).[2]
  • 1565 – an animal's skin worn as a garment.[2]
  • 1568 – verb, to strip the pelt from an animal.[2][9]
  • 1615 – the dead quarry of a hawk (obsolete by 1891).[2]
  • 1622 – the human skin.[17] The OED first has it before 1626.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The skin of an animal with its fur, wool or hair still on it: a beaver pelt.[9][2][15]
  2. The raw skin of an animal, especially a sheep or goat, stripped of its wool or hair for tanning.[9][2][15]
  3. The human skin, especially when bare; now chiefly Irish English or jocular.[9][2][15][17]
  4. An animal's skin worn as a garment.[2]
  5. (obsolete, 1615–1891) The dead quarry of a hawk.[2][9][15][16]

Verb

  1. To strip the pelt from an animal; to fleece.[9][2][15]

Word family

  • peltless
  • peltmonger

pelt2 strike, throw repeatedly

Confidence
Disputed
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1425 before 1425, Northern Homily Legendary
Inherited from
Middle English pelten
Ultimate origin
Middle English pilten

Etymology

The word for striking repeatedly is of uncertain origin.[2][5][3][12] It is apparently inherited from Middle English pelten, a variant of pilten (“to thrust, push, strike”),[2][8][7] though the OED calls the relationship unexplained.[2] The Middle English Dictionary files these forms under that verb and derives it from an unrecorded Old English *pyltan, perhaps from Medieval Latin *pultiō;[14][7] compare Latin pultō (“to beat, knock, strike”),[14][7][8] a variant of pulsō,[8][7] which is the frequentative of pellō (“to push, drive, strike”),[8][3] from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“to thrust, strike, drive”).[3][8] Etymonline calls the word unknown in origin and notes the OED's doubts about this chain.[3] Klein derives it instead from Old French peloter (“to strike with a ball”), from pelote (“ball”),[10] and the Shorter Oxford, Collins and Weekley suggest pellet.[15][12][13] Johnson reported the same contraction from Lye, and Skinner's comparison with German poltern.[16] The noun is from the verb.[2][3][15]

Earliest recorded meaning

To deliver repeated blows: before 1425, in the Northern Homily Legendary, a text that may be as old as about 1375.[2] Barnhart takes pelten back to about 1225, in King Horn, with the sense "to strike, thrust at".[7] Merriam-Webster Unabridged has the 15th century,[9] and Etymonline about 1500.[3]

Semantic evolution

The OED calls the step from "to thrust, strike" to "to deliver repeated blows" a small one.[2] Blows gave way to missiles: "to strike at with missiles" is recorded from 1554, and "to throw missiles" from 1683.[2][3] Johnson (1755) remarks that it is generally used of something thrown, "rather with teazing frequency than destructive violence".[16] Words could pelt too: from 1594 to 1706 the verb meant to fume or throw out abuse, in Shakespeare's Lucrece first,[2] and since 1658 to assail with insults.[2] Shakespeare's Othello has the first shower of small objects,[2] and rain has pelted down since 1665.[2] Etymonline explains the sense "to go fast", from 1831, by the notion of beating the ground with rapid steps.[3][2] The noun followed: a blow before 1540, a rage from 1573, driving rain from 1785 and (at) full pelt from 1841.[2] Scottish, Irish and English dialects kept the verb for striking or thrashing, and also used it for working hard.[18]

Timeline

  • before 1425 – to deliver repeated blows.[2]
  • c. 1450 – transitive, to strike repeatedly.[2]
  • before 1540 – noun, a vigorous blow.[2][9]
  • 1554 – to strike at with missiles.[2]
  • 1573 – noun, an outburst of temper.[2]
  • 1582 – to drive by blows or missiles.[2]
  • 1594 – to throw out abuse, to fume (obsolete by 1706).[2]
  • before 1616 – of small objects, to strike in a shower.[2]
  • 1658 – to attack with insults.[2]
  • 1665 – of rain, to beat down.[2]
  • 1683 – to throw missiles.[2][3]
  • 1785 – noun, a heavy fall of rain or snow.[2] Etymonline dates it to 1862.[3]
  • 1831 – to move quickly.[2][3]
  • 1841 – (at) full pelt, at full speed.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To strike repeatedly with missiles or small objects: The fans pelted the referee with paper cups.[12][9][2]
  2. To throw things, often with at.[12][2][15]
  3. To attack repeatedly with words: Hecklers pelted the candidate with abuse.[12][9][2]
  4. Of rain and the like: to fall heavily, often with down.[12][2][15]
  5. To move quickly; to hurry: He pelted down the stairs.[12][2][3]
  6. (regional) To deliver repeated blows to; to thrash.[2][15][18]
  7. (obsolete, 1594–1706) To throw out angry words; to fume.[2][15]

Noun

  1. A blow, as from something thrown.[12][9][2]
  2. A heavy, beating fall of rain or the like.[9][2][15]
  3. Speed, especially in at full pelt and full pelt, as fast as possible.[12][9][2][15]
  4. (regional) An outburst of temper; a rage.[9][2][15]

Word family

  • pelter
  • pelting
  • unpelted

Usage notes

Two minor nouns of this spelling have separate sources.[2][15] Pelt, "rags, rubbish", from 1567, is of uncertain origin, perhaps connected with paltry,[2][15] and survived in Scotland and Kent;[18] an obsolete pelt, a light shield, from 1617, is from Latin pelta.[2]

References

  1. ^ 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 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  11. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  13. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  14. ^ a b c d 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)
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  16. ^ a b c d Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  17. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  18. ^ a b c d 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)

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Pelt.” Etymologically, 5 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/pelt. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

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