pure

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /pjʊə/, US /pjʊr/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English pur, pure,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French pur (“pure, simple, absolute, unalloyed; sheer, mere”),^[4][2] and directly from Latin pūrus (“clean, clear; unmixed; unadorned; chaste, undefiled”),^[4][2] conjectured to be from Proto-Indo-European *peue- (“to purify, cleanse”),^[4][5] the source also of Latin putus “clear, pure”, Sanskrit punāti “he cleanses”, Middle Irish úr “fresh, new” and Old High German fowen “to sift”.^[4][2][3] It replaced Old English hlūttor.^[4] It is related to purge, purify and Puritan.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of gold, “refined, unalloyed”: about 1250, and earlier as a surname (1178) according to Barnhart,^[2] the mid-13th century in Etymonline, with the surname from the late 12th century;^[4] Old English had purlamb, a lamb without blemish.^[4]

Semantic evolution

“Unmixed, homogeneous” and “total, absolute, mere”, as well as “sexually pure, chaste”, are from about 1300.^[4] Hoad dates “guiltless, innocent” to the 14th century and “chaste” to the 15th,^[6] and “free from moral corruption” is recorded from the mid-14th century.^[4] Of bloodlines it is from the late 15th century,^[4] and purebred is American, from 1868.^[2] In music, “mathematically perfect”, it is by 1872.^[4] The verb pure, “to make pure”, from about 1340, survives only in tanning.^[8][9]

Timeline

• 1178 – as a surname.^[2]
• c. 1250 – unalloyed.^[2][4]
• c. 1300 – unmixed; chaste; mere.^[4]
• mid-14th century – free from moral corruption.^[4]
• late 15th century – of bloodlines.^[4]
• 1868 – purebred.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Not mixed with anything else: pure gold.
2. Free from dirt, pollution or harmful substances: pure water.
3. Free of foreign elements.
4. Complete; utter; nothing but: pure luck.
5. Without moral fault; chaste or innocent.
6. Of a science, theoretical rather than applied: pure mathematics.
7. Of a sound, clear and free of discordant qualities.

Word family

• purely
• pureness
• pureblood
• pure democracy
• pure imaginary number
• pure land

Related words

• purification
• purify
• purity
• puritan
• puritanism
• purist
• purism
• purge
• impure

Usage notes

The American Heritage groups pure with absolute, sheer, simple and unadulterated as “free of extraneous elements”.^[10]

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin