Etymologically
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pouch

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English pouche, also puche and poche,[2] borrowed from Anglo-Norman puche, also Old Northern French pouche,[3][4][5][6][7] a variant of Old French poche (“bag, purse”),[5][6][8][3] now French poche (“pocket”).[6][8] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from about 1165 for a bag, sack, purse or satchel.[9] The OED derives the French word from an unattested Old Dutch *pokka,[5] and other dictionaries from a Germanic source,[3][10][4][11] comparing Old English pocca or pohha (“bag”)[3][4] and Middle Dutch poke (“bag”).[11] It is related to poke in the sense of a bag, and to pocket and poach.[6][7][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

A fish trap: 1299, as puche, according to Barnhart, who also notes the surname Poche in 1184.[4] The OED, which notes the same surname, has as its first record (before 1325, in a copy of the Proverbs of Hendyng of about 1250) a small bag for carrying personal things,[5] and the MED has a silken pouch in 1327.[2]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English a pouche was a bag worn on the person, and also a purse;[2][5] Chaucer's guildsmen in the General Prologue wear fresh new girdles and pouches.[2] From the late 14th century the word was used of baglike cavities in animals, first the stomach of a fish;[5][8] from 1577 it was also used of baglike parts of plants;[5] the OED notes that the use for the pouch of marsupials, parallel to Latin marsupium, is not found in French until 1764.[5] In Scotland a pouch was a pocket sewn into a garment (1539),[5] and the EDD records pouch or pooch for a pocket or purse in Scotland and northern England.[13] Later uses include a bag for shot and powder (1627), a mail bag (1833), a diplomatic bag (1958) and baggy skin under the eyes (1891).[5] The verb, to put into a pouch or pocket, is recorded before 1566;[5][4] it also came to mean to swallow (1643), to purse the lips (1647), to form a pouch (1683), to give someone money as a tip (1810), and in cricket to catch the ball (1910).[5] Green's Dictionary of Slang records the verb in the sense "to steal" from 1825.[14]

Timeline

  • 1184 – the surname Poche.[4][5]
  • 1299 – puche, a fish trap.[4]
  • before 1325 – a small bag for carrying things.[5]
  • 1355 – a purse.[5]
  • before 1399 – a baglike cavity in an animal, first the stomach of a fish.[5]
  • 1539 – a pocket sewn into a garment, chiefly in Scotland.[5]
  • before 1566 – verb, to put into a pouch.[5][4]
  • 1577 – a baglike structure in a plant.[5]
  • 1627 – a bag for powder and shot.[5]
  • 1683 – verb, to form a pouch.[5]
  • 1833 – a mail bag.[5]
  • 1891 – a bag of skin under the eye.[5]
  • 1910 – cricket, to catch the ball.[5]
  • 1958 – a diplomatic bag.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A small soft bag for carrying things such as tobacco or money: He kept his keys in a leather pouch.[15][11][5]
  2. A baglike sac in an animal, such as the marsupium of a marsupial or the cheek pocket of some rodents.[15][11][5]
  3. (anatomy) Any sac or pocketlike cavity in an organ or part of the body.[15][5]
  4. A locked bag for mail or diplomatic dispatches.[15][11][5]
  5. A baggy fold of skin under the eye.[5]
  6. (Scotland) A pocket.[15][5][13]

Verb

  1. To put into a pouch or into one's pocket.[15][11][5]
  2. To arrange in, or to form, a pouchlike shape; to hang loosely like a pouch.[15][5]
  3. Of some birds and fish: to swallow.[15][5]
  4. (cricket) To catch (the ball).[5][6]

Word family

  • pouchy
  • pouched
  • Rathke's pouch
  • retort pouch

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d 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 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 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  11. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  12. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  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. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins