Etymologically
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penal

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈpiːnəl/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French peinal and directly borrowed from Medieval Latin pēnālis,[2][3][4][5] from Latin poenālis (“of or concerning punishment”),[3][4][6] formed from poena (“penalty, punishment”) and -ālis.[4][7] The Old French word is recorded from about 1200 as poinale.[4] The Latin noun is from Ancient Greek ποινή (poinḗ, “blood-money, fine, penalty, punishment”),[3][6][5] which Etymonline and Klein trace to Proto-Indo-European *kʷey- (“to pay, atone, compensate”).[3][6][5] The same Latin noun gave pain,[8][6] and the Greek root also gave timocracy.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a statute: prescribing or enacting punishment: 1439, in the Rolls of Parliament.[4][2]

Semantic evolution

From laws that set punishments the word spread to whatever is connected with legal punishment (about 1487), to the punishment itself (1561), to punishable acts (1569), to sums payable as a penalty (1623) and to places of punishment, as in penal colony (1820).[4] A sense "painful, harsh, severe" goes back to about 1443, and is now often applied to heavy taxation.[4] Johnson (1755) defined it as "denouncing punishment; enacting punishment".[9] Weekley dates penal servitude to 1853;[10] as a noun, penal meant penal servitude in British slang from 1864, and a school punishment from 1845.[4][11] In golf, a penal course places hazards to punish a bad shot (1926).[4] The related verb penalize is recorded from 1868.[2]

Timeline

  • 1439 – of laws, prescribing punishment.[4][2]
  • c. 1443 – painful, harsh, severe.[4]
  • 1561 – inflicted as punishment.[4]
  • 1569 – punishable.[4]
  • 1623 – payable as a penalty, as in penal sum.[4]
  • 1820 – used as a place of punishment.[4]
  • 1864 – noun, British slang for penal servitude.[4][11]
  • 1867 – a separate penal formed from penis, meaning penile.[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of, relating to or prescribing punishment, especially punishment by law: the penal code.[12][13][4]
  2. Used as a place of punishment: a penal colony.[12][13][4]
  3. Payable as a penalty: a penal sum.[12][4]
  4. Punishable, especially by law: a penal offence.[13][4]
  5. Very harsh or severe, especially of taxes.[4]

Word family

  • penally
  • nonpenal
  • unpenal
  • penal code

Usage notes

A separate adjective penal, formed from penis with -al and meaning the same as penile, is recorded from 1867.[4][13]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  6. ^ a b c d e Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  8. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  11. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  13. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster