Etymologically
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pierce

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /pɪəs/, US /pɪrs/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English percen, borrowed from Anglo-Norman perser and Old French percier (“to pierce, transfix”) (modern French percer),[2][3][4][5] probably from Vulgar Latin *pertūsiō,[2][3][4] from Latin pertūsus (“bored through”), the past participle of pertundō (“to bore through”), from per (“through”) and tundō (“to beat, pound”) (see obtuse).[2][3][4][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

To run through or into something with a pointed instrument, to stab: 1297 in the OED, probably before 1300 in Barnhart, about 1300 in Etymonline.[7][2][3] The surname Percehaie is from 1202.[2]

Semantic evolution

Forcing a way through is also from 1297,[7] and figuratively, of cold, from 1390.[7] Affecting someone deeply with grief or pain is from 1387–8,[7] and seeing into something with the eye or mind from the early 15th century.[7] Making a hole in something is from the 14th century, and making the hole itself from about 1412.[7]

Timeline

  • 1202 – Percehaie (surname).[2]
  • 1297 – to stab; to force a way.[7]
  • 1387–8 – to affect with grief.[7]
  • 1390 – of cold, to pierce.[7]
  • c. 1412 – to make a hole.[7]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To pass through with a sharp instrument; to stab or penetrate.
  2. To make a hole in; to perforate.
  3. To force a way through.
  4. Of a sound, to ring out sharply through something; of light, to shine through darkness.
  5. To see into or understand something.
  6. To affect deeply with pain or emotion.

Word family

  • piercer
  • piercing
  • piercingly
  • pierceable
  • transpierce
  • obtuse
  • contusion
  • percussion

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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 Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press