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pitcher

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Etymology and origin of the English word pitcher

English has two nouns spelled pitcher: the jug, borrowed from French in the Middle Ages, and the person who pitches, formed in English on the verb pitch.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈpɪt͡ʃ.ə/[4]
  • US: /ˈpɪt͡ʃ.ɚ/[4]

pitcher1 jug

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1300, South English Legendary
Borrowed from
Anglo-Norman picher
Ultimate origin
Medieval Latin bicārium

Etymology

The jug is borrowed from Anglo-Norman picher and pichier (now pichet),[1][5][6] recorded in Anglo-Norman from the second half of the 12th century.[1][6] It is an altered form of bichier,[2][3] from Medieval Latin bicārium (“drinking cup”) (also picārium),[1][3][7] which is probably from Ancient Greek βῖκος (bîkos, “earthen vessel, jar”).[3][2][8] The American Heritage Dictionary adds that the Greek word may come from Egyptian.[8] The same Medieval Latin word gave beaker.[3][2][9] Skeat derived the French word from Old High German pehhāri, and the Shorter Oxford calls it Frankish, related to beaker.[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

A large vessel with a handle and lip for holding and pouring liquids: c. 1300, in the South English Legendary.[1] Barnhart has picher, an earthen jug, as early as 1208–09, and Etymonline dates it to about 1200; in British Latin documents the word appears as picherius from 1209.[3][2][1]

Semantic evolution

In late Middle English a pitcher was also a liquid measure, a pitcherful.[1] Two proverbs were current by the 16th century: pitchers have ears, a warning that someone may be listening (1546), and the pitcher goes often to the well but is broken at last, for a risk that succeeds until it fails (1584).[1] Johnson (1755) defined it as an earthen vessel, a water pot.[12] Etymonline records pitcher-proud, "drunk", from the early 15th century.[2] In botany the word named a plant part shaped like a jug (1797), as in the pitcher plant (1819).[1][2] In Lincolnshire and Shropshire dialect pitcher was used for particular earthenware vessels, and in Shropshire a pitcher-shop was a china shop.[13] In current use the word is chiefly American for any jug,[7] while British English uses pitcher mainly for a large earthenware one.[7][14]

Timeline

  • 1208–09 – picher, an earthen jug.[3]
  • c. 1300 – a large vessel for pouring liquids.[1]
  • a1400 – a liquid measure (obsolete).[1]
  • early 15th century – pitcher-proud, drunk.[2]
  • 1546 – pitchers have ears.[1]
  • 1797 – (botany) a pitcher-shaped plant part.[1]
  • 1819 – pitcher plant.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A container for liquids with a handle and a lip or spout, in the US also a jug: She filled the pitcher with lemonade.
  2. (chiefly British) A large earthenware jug, usually with a narrow neck.
  3. The amount a pitcher holds.
  4. (botany) A leaf of a pitcher plant, shaped like a jug.

Word family

  • pitcherful
  • pitcher plant

pitcher2 one who pitches

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1336

Etymology

The person who pitches is formed in English from the verb pitch and the agent suffix -er.[1][2][7] The OED compares Medieval Latin piccherius (“a tosser of hay”), used in Britain from the early 14th century.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A farm worker who pitches hay or sheaves onto a cart or rick: 1336, in a medieval farming glossary.[1] Merriam-Webster dates the word to the 14th century, while Barnhart, who first finds an iron bar for making holes in 1707, and Etymonline date the person to 1722.[7][3][2]

Semantic evolution

Anything that is pitched or used for pitching could be a pitcher: a cutting set in the ground to take root (1707), an iron bar for making holes for stakes or hop-poles (1712), and a paving stone or sett (1796).[1][3] From 1818 it was a person who throws a ball or quoit at a target, and in American baseball the player who throws the ball to the batter, from 1845.[1][3][2] In British use a pitcher is also a market trader who sells with patter (1896).[1] In Scottish and northern dialect it was the marble or the piece of slate thrown in children's games such as hopscotch.[13][1] Green's Dictionary of Slang records pitchers as 19th-century London underworld slang for people who pass counterfeit coins.[15]

Timeline

  • 1336 – a worker who pitches hay or sheaves.[1]
  • 1707 – a cutting planted to take root;[1] an iron bar for making holes, in Barnhart.[3]
  • 1796 – a paving stone.[1]
  • 1818 – a person who throws at a mark.[1]
  • 1845 – (baseball) the player who delivers the ball.[1][3][2]
  • 1896 – (British) a market trader who uses patter.[1]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. (baseball, softball) The player who throws the ball to the batter: The pitcher struck out three batters in a row.
  2. A person who pitches something, such as hay.
  3. (chiefly British) A street or market trader who attracts buyers with patter.
  4. A stone used for paving; a sett.

References

  1. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  7. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  9. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  10. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  11. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  13. ^ a b 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)
  14. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  15. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Pitcher.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/pitcher. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

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