pint

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English pinte, also pynte,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Middle French pinte (“a liquid measure”),^[5][6][3] recorded in Old French for the measure in 1294 and, for its contents, about 1200.^[5] The French word is probably from Medieval Latin pincta (“a liquid measure”),^[5][7] from Vulgar Latin *pincta, a variant of Latin picta (“painted”), the feminine of pictus, past participle of pingō (“to paint”),^[6][3][2][4] perhaps from a painted mark on a vessel showing the level of the measure.^[6][2][7] The OED, which also gives this explanation, notes that the French form is unexpected, since the Latin word should have given French peinte, and that the Medieval Latin word might instead have been borrowed from a vernacular language and reinterpreted as picta;^[5] it rejects a Germanic source connected with pintle.^[5] Hoad, the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English call the French word of unknown origin.^[8][9][10] Related forms are Old Occitan pinta, Spanish pinta, Italian pinta and Portuguese pinta, probably mostly from French,^[5][4] and Old Frisian pint (“jug”), Middle Dutch pinte, Middle Low German pinte, Middle High German pinte and German Pinte.^[5][11] Dictionary.com allows a borrowing from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German.^[12] It is related to paint, picture and pintado.^[6][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A vessel holding a pint: 1354, in the charters of Finchale Priory, spelled pynte.^[5][2] The measure itself is recorded from 1378.^[5][2] Etymonline dates both senses to the mid-14th century.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The word named the vessel and the measure of capacity at almost the same time:^[5][2] one-eighth of a gallon, or half a quart, used mostly for liquids but sometimes for grain and other dry goods.^[5][7] Its size differs, the British pint being larger than the American one.^[13][7] Johnson (1755) also noted that in medicine a pint was twelve ounces.^[14] In East Anglia a pint of butter was a weight of 20 ounces, recorded from 1599 and now historical.^[5] The use for a pint of ale or beer is recorded from 1613 in the OED,^[5] from 1742 in Etymonline.^[6] Pint-sized, small, especially of children, is recorded by 1930.^[6] In Scots and northern dialects the word was common in compounds such as pint-stoup, a pint measure or drinking vessel.^[15] In West Indian slang a pint was a six-month prison sentence, as half a quart.^[16]

Timeline

• 1354 – a vessel holding a pint.^[5][2]
• 1378 – a measure of capacity, one-eighth of a gallon.^[5][2]
• 1599 – East Anglian, a unit of weight for butter.^[5]
• 1613 – a pint of ale or beer.^[5]
• 1930 – pint-sized, small.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A unit of liquid capacity equal to one-eighth of a gallon, about 0.57 litre in Britain and 0.47 litre in the United States.^[13][7]
2. A unit of dry capacity equal to half a quart.^[13][7]
3. A container holding a pint.^[13][5]
4. (chiefly British) A pint of beer or ale: Shall we go for a pint after the match?^[13][5]

Word family

• pinter
• half-pint
• pinta
• pint-size

Related words

• paint
• picture
• pintado

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
13. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
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)
16. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com