pivot

Etymology

It is borrowed from French pivot (“pivot, hinge”),^[2][3][4][5] recorded in Old French from the 12th century, also in the sense "penis";^[3] the OED dates the sense "pivot, hinge" in French to 1338 and a figurative use, in the name of a dance, to 1174–78.^[2] Its further origin is uncertain and disputed.^[2][3][5][6] The OED compares Catalan piu (“spindle, pivot”) and Occitan pivèu (“pivot”);^[2] the American Heritage Dictionary adds that the Catalan word may be the same as the Catalan word meaning "chirp", from the creaking of a turning pivot.^[7] Others, including Partridge after Bloch and Wartburg, take it from the base of western French dialect pue (“tooth of a comb, prong of a harrow”), Old Occitan pua (“tooth of a comb”) and Spanish púa (“point, tooth of a comb”),^{[8][9][10][4]} which Merriam-Webster and Barnhart trace to Vulgar Latin *puga (“point”), perhaps related to Latin pungō (“to prick”) and pūgiō (“dagger”), from Proto-Indo-European *peuǵ- (“to prick”).^[11][4] Skeat, after Diez, derived it from Italian piva (“pipe”), a view he called much disputed,^[12] and Weekley compared pivolo (“peg”).^[13] The verb is from the noun, partly after pivoter.^[2][9][3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A pin or shaft on which something turns: the first English record is in a will registered in York in 1398, which mentions pevetsheres, evidently a kind of shears.^[2][3] Barnhart and Etymonline otherwise date the word to Cotgrave's dictionary of 1611.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense, the central point on which everything turns or depends, is recorded from 1748, in Richardson's Clarissa,^[2] while Barnhart and Etymonline date it from 1813.^[4][3] From 1782 the word was a military term for the officer or soldier around whom a body of troops wheels, a sense French had from 1752.^[2] The verb, first in 1841 in Lever, meant to turn as if on a pivot, and figuratively to depend or hinge on something;^[2][3][11] the derived adjective pivotal followed in 1844.^[4] In the 20th century pivot came to mean a player in a central position (1911), a quick turn on the spot, as in basketball (1920), and an element used as the basis of calculation in mathematics (1933).^[2] In American underworld slang of the 20th century, to pivot was to beg on the streets, or of a prostitute, to look for customers.^[14] A newer verb sense, to switch from one strategy or technique to another, is recorded by Collins.^[15]

Timeline

• 1398 – pevetsheres, in a York will.^[2][3]
• 1611 – a pin on which something turns, in Cotgrave.^[4][3]
• 1748 – the central point on which something depends.^[2]
• 1782 – military: the soldier around whom troops wheel.^[2]
• 1796 – adjective, turning on a pivot, as in pivot gun.^[11]
• 1841 – verb, to turn on or as if on a pivot.^[2][3][11]
• 1842 – verb, to provide with a pivot.^[2]
• 1844 – pivotal.^[4]
• 1911 – sport: a player in a central position.^[2]
• 1920 – a turn on the spot, as in basketball.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A short shaft or pin on which something turns or oscillates, such as the pin of a hinge; a fulcrum.^[15][11][2]
2. A person or thing on which something depends; the central or crucial point: The harbour was the pivot of the town's economy.^[15][2]
3. The soldier or position by which a military formation is aligned when it changes direction.^[15][2]
4. A player in a central position, or that position; in basketball, a turn on one foot while holding the ball.^[2]

Verb

1. To turn on or as if on a pivot: She pivoted on her heel and left.^[11][15][2]
2. To depend or hinge on something: Everything pivots on the vote.^[11][2]
3. To mount on or provide with a pivot.^[15][11][2]
4. To change from one strategy or approach to another.^[15]

Adjective

1. Turning on, or equipped with, a pivot; pivotal.^[11][2]

Word family

• pivotable
• pivotman
• pivot tooth
• pivotal
• pivot gun

Related words

• pungent

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
9. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
15. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins