pit

English has two words spelled pit: the hole in the ground, and the stone of a fruit.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: /pɪt/^[4]

pit¹ hole

Etymology

The hole is inherited from Middle English pit, put, inherited from Old English pytt (“water hole, well, pit”),^[1][5][2][6] from Proto-West Germanic *puttī, an early West Germanic borrowing of Latin puteus (“well, pit, shaft”),^[2][5][3] with cognates in Old Frisian pet, Dutch put (“well”) and German Pfütze (“puddle”).^[1][5] De Vaan, quoted by Etymonline, suggests that the Latin word may itself be a loan.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A hole or hollow in the ground: 847 in the OED and Barnhart.^[7][1]

Semantic evolution

An excavation for minerals, a mine, is from 956.^[7] Hell, the abode of evil spirits, is from the late 12th century, and a small depression in a surface from the early 15th century.^[5] A hollow in the body is by the late 13th century, and the pit of the stomach from the 1650s.^[5] The floor of a theatre below the stage is from the 1640s,^[5] the area beside a racetrack where cars are refuelled and repaired is later,^[8][9] and the trading floor of an exchange is American by 1903.^[5] The verb, to put into a pit, is from the mid-15th century; from setting cocks or dogs to fight in a pit comes the sense of setting people against each other (1754).^[5][2] The pits, the worst possible thing, is slang,^[8][9] and Word Origins notes pits for armpits since the 1960s.^[3]

Timeline

• 847 – a hole in the ground.^[7][1]
• 956 – a mine.^[7]
• late 12th century – hell.^[5]
• 1640s – the pit of a theatre.^[5]
• 1754 – to set against each other.^[5]
• 1903 – a trading floor.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A large hole in the ground, natural or dug.
2. A coal mine, or its shaft.
3. A small hollow or scar in a surface, as left by smallpox.
4. The area beside a racetrack where cars are refuelled and repaired.
5. The orchestra pit in a theatre, or the floor of the auditorium.
6. the pit: hell, and in slang the pits, the worst.

Verb

1. To set in opposition or competition: pit them against each other.
2. To mark with small hollows or scars.

Word family

• pitfall
• pitted
• cockpit
• armpit
• pit bull

pit² stone of a fruit

Etymology

The stone of a fruit is borrowed from Dutch pit (“kernel, seed, marrow”), from pitte,^[1][5][6] ultimately from the same Germanic source as pith.^[5][3][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The hard seed of a cherry, peach or similar fruit: 1841, in American English;^[1][5] MWU has 1803.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It is chiefly North American and South African.^[10] The verb, to remove the pits from fruit, is from before 1930, originally American.^[1][10]

Timeline

• 1841 – a fruit stone.^[1][5]
• before 1930 – to remove pits.^[1]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. (chiefly North American) The single hard stone of a fruit such as a cherry or peach.

Verb

1. To remove the pits from fruit.

Related words

• pith
• puteal

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
2. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press