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
- A large hole in the ground, natural or dug.
- A coal mine, or its shaft.
- A small hollow or scar in a surface, as left by smallpox.
- The area beside a racetrack where cars are refuelled and repaired.
- The orchestra pit in a theatre, or the floor of the auditorium.
- the pit: hell, and in slang the pits, the worst.
Verb
- To set in opposition or competition: pit them against each other.
- 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
Modern meaning
Noun
- (chiefly North American) The single hard stone of a fruit such as a cherry or peach.
Verb
- To remove the pits from fruit.
Related words
- pith
- puteal
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
- ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ 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
- ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
- ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
- ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press