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pill

Etymology and origin of the English word pill

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
before 1400
Borrowed from
Middle Dutch pille via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Latin (pilula)

Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English pille, borrowed from Middle Dutch pille or Middle Low German pille and Old French pile,[2][3][4] all from Latin pilula, a little ball, a diminutive of pila, a ball,[2][3][5] perhaps related to pilus, hair, if the original notion was a hairball (see pile).[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A small ball of medicine to be swallowed: before 1400, in a translation of Lanfranc's Science of Surgery;[2] about 1400 in Etymonline, 1484 in the OED.[3][6]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense, something disagreeable that must be swallowed, is from 1548.[2][3][6] Physicians once covered bitter pills with gold, giving gild the pill in the early 17th century, later sugar the pill.[5] An objectionable person or bore is first recorded in 1897, in Maugham's Liza of Lambeth.[2] The contraceptive pill, the Pill, is from 1957,[6] and a pill of a barbiturate or amphetamine from 1963.[6] The verb, to dose with pills, is from 1736, in Fielding,[2][3] to blackball from 1855,[3] and of fabric, to form small balls of fibre, from 1953.[2] Pillbox is from 1730, and a small concrete gun emplacement from 1887.[2]

Timeline

  • before 1400 – a medicinal pill.[2]
  • 1548 – a bitter pill.[2]
  • 1730 – pillbox.[2]
  • 1736 – to dose with pills.[2]
  • 1897 – a bore.[2]
  • 1953 – of fabric, to pill.[2]
  • 1957 – the Pill.[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A small pellet or tablet of medicine taken by swallowing.
  2. (the pill) An oral contraceptive.
  3. Something unpleasant that must be accepted: a bitter pill to swallow.
  4. A small ball of fibres on the surface of a fabric.
  5. (slang) An unpleasant or boring person.

Verb

  1. To form small balls of fibre, as a fabric does.
  2. To dose with pills.

Word family

  • antipill
  • minipill
  • pillbox
  • pillhead
  • abortion pill
  • bitter pill
  • blue pill
  • morning-after pill

Usage notes

Several other words are spelled pill: an old verb meaning to peel or to plunder, from Latin pilāre (see pillage);[3][7][8] a peel or rind;[6][8] and a tidal creek in the West Country, a form of pool.[8][7]

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press

Related etymologies

  • golf · also from Middle Dutch
  • grab · also from Middle Dutch
  • kit · also from Middle Dutch
  • clock · also from Middle Dutch
  • deck · also from Middle Dutch
  • hop · also from Middle Dutch
  • cant · also from Middle Dutch
  • brick · also from Middle Dutch
Cite this entry

“Pill.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/pill. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·