pill English · revision 10413

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1400|origins=dum pille|origins=la pilula}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /pɪl/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English pille, [[bor|dum|pille]] or Middle Low German pille and Old French pile,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) all from Latin pilula, a little ball, a diminutive of pila, a ball,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) perhaps related to pilus, hair, if the original notion was a hairball (see [[pile]]).^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A small ball of medicine to be swallowed: before 1400, in a translation of Lanfranc's ''Science of Surgery'';^(Barnhart 1988) about 1400 in Etymonline, 1484 in the OED.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The figurative sense, something disagreeable that must be swallowed, is from 1548.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) Physicians once covered bitter pills with gold, giving ''gild the pill'' in the early 17th century, later ''sugar the pill''.^(Cresswell 2021) An objectionable person or bore is first recorded in 1897, in Maugham's ''Liza of Lambeth''.^(Barnhart 1988) The contraceptive pill, ''the Pill'', is from 1957,^(OED 1989) and a pill of a barbiturate or amphetamine from 1963.^(OED 1989) The verb, to dose with pills, is from 1736, in Fielding,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) to blackball from 1855,^(Etymonline) and of fabric, to form small balls of fibre, from 1953.^(Barnhart 1988) ''Pillbox'' is from 1730, and a small concrete gun emplacement from 1887.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1400 – a medicinal pill.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1548 – a bitter pill.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1730 – pillbox.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1736 – to dose with pills.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1897 – a bore.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1953 – of fabric, to pill.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1957 – the Pill.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A small pellet or tablet of medicine taken by swallowing.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(the pill)'' An oral [[contraceptive]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Something unpleasant that must be accepted: ''a bitter pill to swallow''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A small ball of fibres on the surface of a fabric.^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(slang)'' An unpleasant or boring person.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To form small balls of fibre, as a fabric does.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To dose with pills.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[antipill]]

+ * [[minipill]]

+ * [[pillbox]]

+ * [[pillhead]]

+ * [[abortion pill]]

+ * [[bitter pill]]

+ * [[blue pill]]

+ * [[morning-after pill]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[pellet]]

+ * [[pile]]

+ * [[pilule]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Several other words are spelled pill: an old verb meaning to peel or to plunder, from Latin pilāre (see [[pillage]]);^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002) a peel or rind;^(OED 1989)^(SOED 2002) and a tidal creek in the West Country, a form of [[pool]].^(SOED 2002)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}