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poise

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Etymology and origin of the English word poise

Pronunciation

poise1 balance, weight

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1389 Norfolk gild return
Borrowed from
Anglo-Norman poiser via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Latin pendō

Etymology

The verb meaning to weigh and balance is inherited from Middle English poisen,[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman poiser, a variant of peiser (“to weigh”),[5][6] which goes back to pois-, also peis-, the stressed stem of peser (“to weigh”),[5][2][7][4] from Vulgar Latin *pēsō, from Latin pēnsō (“to weigh carefully”),[3][8][9][4] the frequentative of pendō (“to hang, weigh”).[3][9][7] The noun is inherited from Middle English pois, also poyse,[4][9][10] partly borrowed from Anglo-Norman pois, a variant of peis (“weight”), and partly borrowed from Anglo-Norman poise, a variant of peise (“measure of weight, balance”).[5] The Old French noun, recorded as pois from about 1170,[5] comes from Medieval Latin pesum (“weight”), from Latin pēnsum (“something weighed”), the neuter past participle of the same verb, used as a noun.[3][4][9][7] Its modern spelling poids has a -d- from a mistaken link with pondus (“weight”).[3][9][11] Etymonline takes the Latin verb back to Proto-Indo-European *(s)pen- (“to draw, stretch, spin”),[3][8] and the English peise, from the variant spelling, is recorded slightly earlier.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To weigh a stated amount: 1389, of candles "poysand vj pounde of wax" in a Norfolk gild return.[5][2] Barnhart dates the verb about 1378, from the B-text of Piers Plowman.[4][2] The noun, in the sense of a specific weight, follows in 1421, in the Rolls of Parliament.[5][4]

Semantic evolution

Word Origins and the Oxford Dictionary of English trace the modern meaning from "weight" through "equal weight on both sides, balance" to composure and graceful bearing.[12][13] Equal poise, the state of being evenly weighted, is recorded from 1555,[5][3] and plain "balance, equilibrium" from 1621.[5] The figurative sense "steadiness, composure" appears in Lovelace's Poems of 1649,[4][3] although Word Origins places the modern sense of composure in the late 18th century, when the sense of the body's carriage is also first recorded (1770).[12][3][7] The verb moved along the same line: from weighing (1458) and weighing in the mind (before 1483 to 1863) to balancing one thing against another (1597, in Romeo and Juliet), holding something steady or in equilibrium (1598), and holding it suspended (1639).[5][4] To hover or hang in suspense is recorded by 1847, and the passive "to be ready", as in poised to, from 1932, in Faulkner's Light in August.[4][3] Many older senses of the noun are gone, among them importance (1457–1752), heaviness (1489–1741) and a heavy blow (1490–1609).[5] In 15th-century English a poiser was an official who weighed goods.[3] In north Yorkshire and Warwickshire dialect a poise was a lever.[14]

Timeline

  • 1389 – to be of a stated weight (obsolete by 1657).[5][2] Barnhart dates it about 1378.[4]
  • 1421 – noun, a specific weight (obsolete by 1706).[5][4]
  • 1457 – figurative, importance, burden (obsolete by 1752).[5][4]
  • 1458 – to weigh with a balance or in the hand.[5]
  • before 1483 – to weigh in the mind, to ponder (obsolete by 1863).[5]
  • 1531 – a heavy object used for its weight, as in a clock.[5]
  • 1555 – equal poise, the state of being evenly weighted.[5][3]
  • 1597 – to balance one thing against another.[5]
  • 1598 – to hold or carry in equilibrium.[5][4]
  • 1621 – balance, equilibrium.[5]
  • 1639 – to keep in equilibrium, to hold suspended.[5][4]
  • 1649 – steadiness, composure.[4] Etymonline says the 1640s.[3]
  • 1770 – the way the body is carried.[3]
  • 1847 – to hover, to hang in suspense.[4][3]
  • 1932 – to be ready, in the passive.[4][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Composure and dignity of manner; self-assurance: She answered the hostile questions with great poise.[15][10][7]
  2. Graceful bearing or carriage of the body.[15][7]
  3. Balance, equilibrium or stability.[15][10][5]
  4. The state of hanging or hovering; suspense or indecision between alternatives.[15][7][10]
  5. A weight, such as the sliding block on a scale or a weight in a clock.[10][5]
  6. (obsolete) Heaviness (1489–1741).[5][10][7]

Verb

  1. To hold or carry steadily, in balance: The porter poised the crate on one shoulder.[10][5][7]
  2. To be balanced or suspended, or to cause to be: A gull poised over the harbour wall.[15][16][5]
  3. To hold in readiness: The painter poised her brush above the canvas.[15][7]
  4. be poised: to be ready or about to do something.[7][16]
  5. (rare) To weigh, especially by hefting.[15][5]
  6. (archaic) To weigh in the mind; to ponder.[10][5]
  7. (obsolete) To counterbalance (1600–1779).[10][5][7]

Word family

  • counterpoise
  • equipoise
  • poiser
  • unpoised

poise2 unit of viscosity

Confidence
Established
Formation
Eponym, Clipping
First attested
1913 Deeley and Parr
Ultimate origin
English Poiseuille

Etymology

The unit of viscosity is a shortening from English Poiseuille,[5][7] the name of Jean-Louis-Marie Poiseuille (1799–1869), a French physician and physiologist who studied the flow of fluids.[5][8][10] Merriam-Webster Unabridged and the American Heritage Dictionary treat it as coming from French, after him.[10][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A unit of dynamic viscosity: 1913, in an article by R. M. Deeley and P. H. Parr in the Philosophical Magazine.[5][10]

Semantic evolution

The physicist's name was already in scientific use from 1884 for an equation and a law of the flow of fluids through narrow tubes.[5] The unit belongs to the cgs system, and one poise equals 0.1 pascal second.[7]

Timeline

  • 1913 – a unit of dynamic viscosity.[5][10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A cgs unit of dynamic viscosity, equal to one dyne-second per square centimetre.[10][7][5]

Word family

  • centipoise

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster Unabridged pronounces the unit of viscosity with an initial /pw/, like the name,[10] whereas the OED and the Shorter Oxford give it the same /pɔɪz/ as the word for balance.[5][7]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e 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 n o p Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ 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 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  9. ^ a b c d e Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  12. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  13. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  14. ^ 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)
  15. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  16. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Poise.” Etymologically, 5 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/poise. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

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