pitfall

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English pit-falle,^[2] apparently formed from Middle English pitte + falle (“trap”),^[3][4][2] from the ancestors of pit and fall.^[5][6] Pitte continues Old English pytt,^[5] and falle continues fealle (“trap”),^[4][7][8] from Proto-Germanic *fallą (“a fall, trap”),^[1][9] which also gave Old Frisian fal and Old Saxon fal, both meaning a trap,^[9] and Old High German falla (“mousetrap”).^[7] The OED notes that the second element was later reanalysed as the ordinary noun fall, the act of falling,^[3][10] which the Shorter Oxford also allows to be the verb.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Unfavourable terrain in which an army may be surrounded and captured: before 1350, in a historical poem.^[3][2] The Shorter Oxford glosses this oldest use as "an ambush".^[10]

Semantic evolution

The military sense was rare and is found only in Middle English.^[3][10] The Wycliffite Bible (before 1382) used pit falle for a bird trap in which a trapdoor falls over a hollow,^[2][3] and Trevisa (before 1387) for a concealed pit into which people fall.^[2][3] The figurative sense, a trap set for the unwary or a hidden danger, is recorded by the OED from about 1390^[3] and by Etymonline from the early 15th century;^[5] the Shorter Oxford dates "a cunning device" to the late 16th century and "a hidden danger, difficulty or opportunity for error" to the mid 18th.^[10] Johnson (1755) still defined only the literal pit "dug and covered", quoting Macbeth: "the pitfall nor the gin".^[11] The bird trap was obsolete by the end of the 18th century,^[3] and the American Heritage Dictionary now lists the figurative sense first.^[12]

Timeline

• before 1350 – unfavourable terrain in which an army may be trapped (obsolete, rare).^[3][2]
• before 1382 – a bird trap with a trapdoor falling over a hollow (obsolete by 1795).^[3][2]
• before 1387 – a concealed pit into which animals or people fall, used as a trap.^[3][2]
• c. 1390 – figurative, a trap for the unwary; a hidden danger or difficulty.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A hidden or unexpected danger, difficulty or source of error: The guide warns new landlords about the legal pitfalls of renting.^[12][6][13]
2. A concealed pit dug as a trap for animals or people.^[12][6][13]
3. (obsolete, 1382–1795) A trap for birds in which a trapdoor falls over a hollow.^[3][10]

Related words

• pit
• fall

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c 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 Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
8. ^ Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
9. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
10. ^ 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
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
13. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster