pinpoint

Etymology

It is a compound from English pin + point.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The verb is a conversion of the noun.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The point of a pin, or a tiny dot, often as the type of something small or sharp: 1670, in L. Meager's English Gardener.^[2][7][5] Etymonline dates the noun, also written pin-point, to 1849,^[3] and the Shorter Oxford to the mid-19th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Its modern uses come from aviation.^[3][2] From 1927 a pinpoint was a known landmark seen from an aircraft and used to fix its position;^[2][3] hence the verb, to locate exactly, especially on a map, first recorded in 1917,^[2][5] and according to Etymonline originally airmen's slang.^[3] In the Second World War the verb was used of locating a target for bombing (1940),^[2] and the adjective of what is accurately aimed (1942),^[2] which Etymonline dates to 1944, originally of aerial bombing.^[3] The verb was extended from places to causes and problems, to identify precisely, from 1922,^[2][7] and to bring into prominence from 1943.^[2] The adjective, meaning very small or sharp, is older, from 1807,^[2][7] and Merriam-Webster dates its first sense to 1897.^[5]

Timeline

• 1670 – the point of a pin; a tiny dot.^[2][5]
• 1807 – adjective, very small or sharp.^[2]
• 1899 – adjective, very fine in texture.^[2]
• 1917 – verb, to locate exactly, especially on a map.^[2][5]
• 1922 – verb, to identify precisely.^[2]
• 1927 – a landmark seen from an aircraft.^[2]
• 1940 – verb, to locate a target for bombing.^[2]
• 1942 – adjective, accurately targeted.^[2]
• 1943 – verb, to bring into prominence.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To find or show the exact position of something: The rescuers pinpointed the boat from its radio signal.^[8][5][2]
2. To identify something precisely: It was hard to pinpoint the cause of the delay.^[8][2]
3. To locate a target precisely for bombing.^[5][2]
4. To bring into prominence; to highlight.^[2][4]

Noun

1. The point of a pin.^[8][5][2]
2. A very small point or spot: a pinpoint of light.^[5][2]
3. Something trifling or very small in size or importance.^[8][5]
4. (aeronautics) A landmark identified from an aircraft, or the aircraft's ground position fixed from it.^[2][4]

Adjective

1. Very precise or exact: pinpoint accuracy.^[8][5][2]
2. Very small or sharp.^[2][5]

Related words

• pin
• point

Usage notes

Pinpoint was also a proprietary name, from 1984, for a service that let a customer buy goods such as petrol from an automatic dispenser with a card and a PIN; that name was formed from PIN and point, after cashpoint.^[2][4]

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
8. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins