Etymologically
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point

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /pɔɪnt/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English point, pointe,[2][3] a merger of two Old French words.[2][4] One is borrowed from Old French point (“prick, dot, mark; small measure of space or time”), from Latin pūnctum (“small hole made by pricking; spot; moment”), the neuter past participle of pungere (“to prick, pierce”);[5][3][6] the other is pointe (“sharp end; vanguard”), from Medieval Latin puncta (“sharp tip”), the feminine of the same participle.[2][5][6] Latin pungere comes from a nasalized form of Proto-Indo-European *peuk- (“to prick”).[2][7] In mathematics and grammar Latin pūnctum translates Greek στιγμή (stigmḗ, “a prick, point”).[8] The verb is partly from pointer and partly from the English noun.[6][9][10] The same Latin verb gave pungent, punctuation, punctual and puncture.[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

An opportune moment; a state or condition (before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle), according to Barnhart,[4] while Etymonline has “a minute amount, a single item; the sharp end of a sword” from about 1200.[2]

Semantic evolution

The two French words remain distinct in French but merged in English.[2] The “dot” word gave the senses of a unit, a mark and a point in space or time, and the “tip” word those of a sharp end and a promontory.[12][11] Barnhart dates “a subject, a topic” to about 1300 and “a small mark, a dot” to about 1353;[13] the OED has a punctuation mark, especially the full stop, from about 1386.[14] Etymonline records “an instant” from the late 14th century, “a distinguishing feature” from the late 15th, a promontory from the 1550s, a unit of score in a game from 1746 and a unit of price on a stock exchange by 1814.[2] Weekley notes that the sense “distinguishing mark” now survives mainly in strong point.[15] In Tudor English a point was also a tagged lace for fastening the hose to the doublet, a frequent subject of jokes in Shakespeare.[16][17] The verb meant “to indicate with the finger” from the late 14th century;[2] point out is from the 1570s and point up “to emphasize” from 1934.[2]

Timeline

  • before 1200 – an opportune moment; a condition (Ancrene Riwle).[4]
  • c. 1200 – a sharp end of a weapon; a single item.[2]
  • c. 1300 – a subject, a topic.[13]
  • c. 1353 – a small mark, a dot.[13]
  • c. 1386 – a punctuation mark.[14]
  • late 14th century – an instant; verb, to point with the finger.[2]
  • late 15th century – a distinguishing feature.[2]
  • 1550s – a promontory.[2]
  • 1570s – point out.[2]
  • 1746 – a unit of score in a game.[2]
  • 1814 – a unit of price on a stock exchange.[2]
  • 1934 – point up, to emphasize.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The sharp end of something, such as a knife or pin.
  2. A dot or mark, especially a full stop or a decimal point.
  3. (geometry) A position that has no size.
  4. A particular place or position.
  5. A particular moment: at that point I left.
  6. The main idea or purpose: the point of the exercise.
  7. A single item or detail; an argument made: you've made your point.
  8. A characteristic, especially a good one: his good points.
  9. A unit of scoring or measurement, as in a game or on the stock exchange.
  10. A piece of land jutting into the sea; a promontory.
  11. (British) A junction of railway tracks.

Verb

  1. To show direction or position, especially with a finger.
  2. To aim or direct: pointed the camera at us.
  3. To sharpen.
  4. To fill the joints of brickwork with mortar.
  5. Of a hunting dog, to show where game is by standing still and facing it.

Word family

  • point-and-click
  • point-and-shoot
  • pointer
  • point d'appui
  • pungent
  • punctuation
  • punctual
  • punctilious
  • puncture
  • pounce
  • appoint

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  4. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  13. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  14. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  15. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  16. ^ Skeat, Walter W.; Mayhew, A. L. (1914), A Glossary of Tudor and Stuart Words, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  17. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins