Etymologically
Log in

pinch

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 21:49. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English pinchen, borrowed from Old French *pinchier (“to pinch, squeeze, nip”), a northern variant of pincier, the ancestor of pincer,[2][3][4][5][6][7] still found in Norman dialect.[4][5] The Shorter Oxford gives the Anglo-Norman form, recorded only in a participle meaning pleated.[8][5] Further back the word is of uncertain origin:[3][4] it may come from Vulgar Latin *pīnctiō, perhaps a blend of *pūnctiō (“to pierce”), from Latin pūnctum (“point”), and *piccō (“to pierce”),[3][4][9][6] while the American Heritage Dictionary and the OED see an expressive base in the Romance languages, also found in Italian pinzare (“to sting”) and Spanish pinchar (“to prick”).[2][5] The French verb is also the source of pincers.[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

To pluck, as of an eyebrow: about 1230, in the Ancrene Riwle,[3][4][5] and earlier in a surname, Pincheneio.[4] The OED defines its first sense as to grip or squeeze something tightly and sharply, especially the skin between finger and thumb.[5] The sense of being stingy is recorded from the early 14th century.[3][4]

Semantic evolution

By the mid-14th century the verb meant to squeeze between finger and thumb or between two hard surfaces, and to pain or torment.[3][4] Chaucer used it of pleating a garment (c1387–95), and other medieval senses were to crimp hair and to seal the edge of pastry.[5] Of tight shoes it is recorded from the 1570s,[3][5] and the proverbial where the shoe pinches, the heart of a difficulty, from about 1580.[5] The slang sense "to steal" is dated to the 1650s by Etymonline,[3] but Green's Dictionary of Slang has "to rob" from 1576;[12] the sense "to arrest" is recorded from 1837 in British use.[13] The noun is first found in a figurative sense, a critical moment or emergency, in Caxton (1489), as in at a pinch,[5][3][4] before the literal act of pinching (1591, in Shakespeare)[4] and the amount that can be taken between finger and thumb (1583).[14][3] Hardship, as in feel the pinch, is recorded from about 1594.[5] In baseball, pinch meant a tight spot in a game from 1886,[5] and the pinch hitter is recorded from 1912;[4][3][7] the noun "an arrest" is American, from 1900.[13] In Scotland and northern England pinch was also a crowbar or lever.[15]

Timeline

  • c1230 – to pluck.[5][4]
  • early 14th century – to be stingy.[3]
  • mid-14th century – to squeeze; to pain, torment.[3]
  • c1387–95 – to pleat a garment.[5]
  • 1489 – noun, a critical juncture, an emergency.[5][4]
  • 1576 – (slang) to rob.[12]
  • 1583 – a small amount taken between finger and thumb.[14]
  • c1594 – hardship.[5]
  • 1837 – (slang) to arrest.[13]
  • 1886 – (baseball) a tight spot.[5]
  • 1900 – (slang) noun, an arrest.[13]
  • 1912 – pinch hitter.[4][7]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To grip something tightly and sharply, especially a person's skin between finger and thumb: She pinched herself to make sure she was awake.
  2. Of shoes or clothing, to press painfully on part of the body because they are too tight.
  3. To remove the tip of a shoot or bud to make a plant branch.
  4. To live frugally; to be miserly: They pinched and saved for a new car.
  5. (informal) To steal.
  6. (informal) To arrest.

Noun

  1. An act of pinching; a sharp squeeze.
  2. A very small amount, as much as can be held between finger and thumb: Add a pinch of salt.
  3. A time of difficulty or emergency, especially in at a pinch or in a pinch: At a pinch, the sofa can sleep two.
  4. Hardship or financial pressure, as in feel the pinch.
  5. (informal) A theft; an arrest.

Word family

  • pinchable
  • pinchcock
  • pincher
  • pinchpenny
  • pinch-hit
  • pinch roller
  • pinch bar

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  11. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  12. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  13. ^ a b c d Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge
  14. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  15. ^ 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)