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pup

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is a shortened form of puppy.[2][3][4][5][6][7] Hoad, the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English call it a back-formation, as if puppy were a diminutive in -y.[8][9][10] Puppy itself is probably from Old French poupée (“doll, toy”).[3][11][2] The OED notes that the earliest records of pup and puppy are hard to tell apart: its first example, from 1542, is an index entry for a marginal “puppees” and may be a misprint for that word.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A young dog: 1542, in N. Udall's translation of Erasmus's Apophthegmes, if that index entry is the present word.[2] Merriam-Webster also gives 1542 for this sense,[6] but other dictionaries date it much later: 1760 in Etymonline and 1773 in Barnhart.[3][4]

Semantic evolution

As a term of contempt for a conceited or foolish young man, pup is recorded from 1589 or 1590,[4][2][3] the same year as the matching sense of puppy.[4] Etymonline also notes the compound pup-bairn for Latin pupa in a late 15th-century English–Latin wordbook.[3] In the 19th century the word spread to the young of other animals: of the fur seal and sea lion from 1815, in the Sydney Gazette,[2][4][3] and of rats, mice, bats and some sharks from 1896.[2] From 1887 a pup could also be any young or inexperienced person, a beginner,[2][3] often as young pup, which Green's Dictionary of Slang dates from 1833.[12] Johnson (1755) had the verb to pup, of a bitch bringing forth young.[13] American English added the pup tent in 1863,[4][3] and in the Yukon and Alaska a small stream flowing into a creek was a pup (1897).[2] The Sopwith Pup was a small fast aeroplane of the First World War (1917).[2][3] From 1936 a pup was also a small trailer pulled behind a truck.[2] The phrase to sell someone a pup, to swindle someone with something worthless, is from 1901,[2] and Australians say that the night is only a pup when it has hardly begun (1921).[2]

Timeline

  • 1542 – a young dog (doubtful first record).[2][6]
  • 1590 – a stupid or arrogant young man; 1589 in Barnhart.[2][4]
  • 1699 – verb, to give birth to pups.[2]
  • 1746 – in pup, pregnant.[2]
  • 1815 – a young seal or sea lion.[2][4][3]
  • 1863 – pup tent.[4]
  • 1887 – a youthful or inexperienced person.[2]
  • 1897 – a small tributary stream, in the Yukon and Alaska.[2]
  • 1901 – to sell someone a pup.[2]
  • 1917 – the Sopwith Pup aeroplane.[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A young dog; a puppy.[14][6][2]
  2. The young of various other animals, especially of a seal or sea otter.[14][6][2]
  3. A conceited or inexperienced young person, often young pup (informal, chiefly British, derogatory).[14][6][2]
  4. in pup: of a female dog, pregnant.[14][2]
  5. sell someone a pup: to swindle someone by selling them something worthless.[14][2]

Verb

  1. Of a female dog or some other animals, to give birth to pups.[6][2][9]

Word family

  • pupfish

Usage notes

The OED also records pup as a punning shortening of pupil in Cambridge use (1871), and Pup as a shortening of the name of the constellation Puppis (1922).[2] Weekley compares to sell one a pup with the history of cozen.[15]

References

  1. ^ 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 z 27 28 29 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 i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  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. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  14. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  15. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray