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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word pez

pez1 fish

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1200 La fazienda de Ultra Mar, in a 13th-century copy
Inherited from
Latin piscis via Old Spanish
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *peysk-
Etymology tree of pez1
inherited borrowed derived
Latin piscis
French poisson
Italian pesce
Spanish pez
From the same root · pez1
Latin piscārius ← piscis
Latin piscīna ← piscis
Latin piscor ← piscis
Latin piscōsus ← piscis

Pronunciation

  • /ˈpeθ/, [ˈpeθ], /ˈpes/[1]

Forms

pez m (plural peces)[1] The variant peje, of Leonese and Mozarabic origin, is very frequent in the 16th-century chroniclers of the Indies and still common in the Americas.[2][3]

Etymology

The word for the fish is inherited from Old Spanish pez, inherited from Latin piscis (“fish”).[2][4][1]

The same word is Portuguese peixe, Galician peixe, Asturian pexe, Catalan peix, Occitan peis, Italian pesce and Romanian pește, and French poisson comes from a derivative.[5][6]

The Latin word continues Proto-Italic *piskis, and is cognate with Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐍃𐌺𐍃 (fisks) and the English word fish.[1][7] Wiktionary reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *peysk-.[1] De Vaan starts from a form without the diphthong, and finds the alternation between the Italic and Germanic forms and the Celtic one with a diphthong hard to explain.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first record is the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200, in a 13th-century copy), which tells how Jesus fed five thousand men with .v. panes e .ii. peces “five loaves and two fishes”.[8] The first record in a text with no later copy is the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes (1218–c. 1250), with a chapter on the sale of fish.[8] Corominas dates the word 1220–1250.[2]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's Lapidario describes a stone that gathers fishes together.[9] Autoridades notes that pez was used in particular for river fish with no special name, and by likeness for the long heap of grain on the threshing floor; figuratively it meant a gain won with effort, an allusion to fishing.[10] Modern Spanish uses pez for the living animal and pescado for fish caught to eat.[11][1] Informally pez can mean a dimwit, and in Mexican youth slang a problem.[1][12]

Timeline

  • c. 1200 – the Fazienda de Ultra Mar tells of the five loaves and two fishes.[8]
  • 1218–c. 1250 – the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes regulates the sale of fish.[8]
  • 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses the word.[9]
  • 1544 – a record from Paraguay has the variant pexe.[3]
  • 1611 – Covarrubias gives Latin piscis.[13]
  • 1726–1739 – Autoridades records the heap of grain and the figurative “gain”.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A fish: an aquatic vertebrate that breathes through gills and usually has fins and scales; in particular a living fish.[4][1]
  2. A river fish.[4]
  3. A long heap of grain on the threshing floor; any long bundle.[4]
  4. (colloquial) A gain won with much effort, alluding to fishing.[4]
  5. (informal) A dimwit.[1]
  6. (Mexico, youth slang) A problem.[12]

Word family

  • pecera

pez2 pitch

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1215 Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca, in a 14th-century copy
Inherited from
Latin pix via Old Spanish
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *pik-
Etymology tree of pez2
inherited borrowed derived
Latin pīx
Spanish pez
From the same root · pez2
Latin piceus ← pīx
Latin picō ← pīx

Pronunciation

  • /ˈpeθ/, [ˈpeθ], /ˈpes/[1]

Forms

pez f (plural peces)[1]

Etymology

The word for pitch is inherited from Old Spanish pez, inherited from Latin pix (“pitch”).[14][4][1]

The same word is Portuguese pez, Italian pece and French poix, and Catalan and Occitan have the form pega.[5][15]

The Latin word continues Proto-Italic *piks, from Proto-Indo-European *pik- (“pitch”).[7][1] It is cognate with Ancient Greek πίσσα (píssa), Lithuanian pìkis and Old Church Slavonic пьцьлъ (pĭcĭlŭ).[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first record is the Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca (c. 1215, in a 14th-century copy), which says of the saint's skin: Tan negra era la su petrina, como la pez e la resina “her breast was as black as pitch and resin”.[8] The DEMel has earlier records in charters, pez in the Fuero of San Sebastián (c. 1180) and peis in Huesca documents of 1184 and 1194.[16] Corominas dates the word to about 1250.[14]

Semantic evolution

Thirteenth-century poems use the comparison más negro que la pez “blacker than pitch”.[8] In 1251 a royal privilege freed Seville from tolls on timber, pitch, tow and hemp, the stores of shipbuilding.[8] Covarrubias in 1611 describes it as the black resin taken from pines.[13] From pitch's stickiness come empecinado and empecinarse “to persist stubbornly”, first recorded in 1826.[14][17] The DLE also uses pez for the first stool of a newborn child.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 1180 – the DEMel's first record, in the Fuero of San Sebastián.[16]
  • c. 1215 – the Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca compares a black skin to pitch.[8]
  • 1251 – a privilege of Alfonso X for Seville lists pitch among naval supplies.[8]
  • c. 1495 – Nebrija records pez negra del pino.[18]
  • 1611 – Covarrubias derives it from Latin pix, picis.[13]
  • 1826 – empecinarse is first recorded.[14]
  • 1884 – the Academy's dictionary describes pitch as the resin of the Scots pine.[19]

Meanings

Noun

  1. pitch: a dark, sticky, resinous substance obtained from turpentine, used with tow to caulk wooden boats.[4][1]
  2. The first stool of a newborn baby, meconium.[4]

Word family

  • peceño
  • pecina
  • empecinado
  • empecinarse
  • peje
  • pescado
  • pescar
  • piscina
  • pegar
  • Latin piscis
  • Latin pix

Usage notes

The two words differ in gender: el pez “the fish”, plural los peces, and la pez “pitch”.[4][1] Set phrases include pez gordo “bigwig” and pez con pez “completely empty”, said of wineskins lined with pitch.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. pez I
  3. ^ a b Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. pece
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. pez
  5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 5063
  7. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. pez
  9. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. pez
  10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 247
  11. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. pez
  12. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. pez
  13. ^ a b c Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1211
  14. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. pez II
  15. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 2568
  16. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. pez
  17. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 569
  18. ^ Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. pez
  19. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 824

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Pez.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/pez. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

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