pyx

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English pyxe, also pix,^[2] borrowed from Latin pyxis (“small box or casket”),^[3][4][5][6] from Ancient Greek πυξίς (puxís, “box”),^[3][7][5] originally one of boxwood,^[4][8] from πύξος (púxos, “box tree”).^[3][4][7] The Latin word meant the casket for the host in post-classical use, from the 10th century and often from the 11th in British sources, and the box of sample coins from 1280 in British sources.^[3] Etymonline calls the Greek tree name of uncertain origin, perhaps a loan from Italy, where the tree is native,^[4] and Klein suggests a Thraco-Phrygian origin.^[7] A late Latin variant, Late Latin buxis, probably gave English box.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The vessel in which the consecrated bread of the Eucharist is kept: perhaps before 1425, in Mandeville's Travels.^[3] Etymonline dates it about 1400,^[4] and Hoad and Ayto to the 14th century.^[5][8]

Semantic evolution

The word entered English for the church vessel, and Johnson (1755) recorded only that use, "the box in which the Romanists keep the host".^[9] From 1566 it also named the box at a mint in which specimen coins are put aside to be tested each year, hence the trial of the pyx, the official test of them;^[3][10][11] the same use of the word was already frequent in British Latin.^[3] A general sense "box, casket" is recorded from 1609, but rarely.^[3] From 1686 to 1710 it could mean a mariner's compass, after the metal box in which the compass hangs.^[3][4] The verb followed both main uses: to place the consecrated bread in a pyx, from 1545 to 1640, and to deposit coins in the pyx and test them, from 1745.^[3]

Timeline

• before 1425 – the vessel for the consecrated bread of the Eucharist.^[3]
• 1545 – verb, to keep the consecrated bread in a pyx (obsolete by 1640).^[3]
• 1566 – the box at a mint for specimen coins to be tested.^[3]
• 1609 – more generally, a box or casket.^[3]
• 1686 – a mariner's compass (obsolete by 1710).^[3] Etymonline dates the nautical use to the 1680s.^[4]
• 1745 – verb, to deposit coins in a pyx; to test them.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Christianity) The vessel in which the consecrated bread of the Eucharist is kept or carried to the sick.^[12][2][3]
2. The box or chest at a mint in which specimen coins are kept for testing, as in the trial of the pyx.^[12][2][3]
3. (rare) A small box or casket.^[2][3][10]
4. (obsolete, 1686–1710) A mariner's compass.^[3][10]

Verb

1. To deposit coins in a pyx; to assay them for weight and fineness.^[2][3][10]
2. (obsolete, 1545–1640) To put or keep the consecrated bread in a pyx.^[3][10]

Related words

• pyxis
• box
• pyxidium

Usage notes

The OED enters Pyx separately (from 1922) for the southern constellation, a shortening of pyxis, used chiefly in the designations of its stars.^[3]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ 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
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins