Etymologically
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pinpoint

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈpɪnpɔɪnt/[1]

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]

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