pix

Forms

pix n (plural pixuri)^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is not settled.^[2][3] According to DEX and NODEX it is borrowed from English pick.^[4][5][6] Wiktionary gives the English word or the brand name French Bic.^[1] MDN names an English ⟨pix⟩, while DN and Dimitrescu call it a trade name, Dimitrescu only probably so.^[7][8][9] The DLR calls it of unknown origin and, like MDA2, compares a French name spelled ⟨byk⟩.^[2][3] The French brand was drawn in 1960 from the name of the firm's founder, Baron Bich.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a list of goods in the weekly Contemporanul in 1965: „pixuri, agende și alte mărunțișuri” “ballpoint pens, diaries and other small things”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In 1968 a newspaper reported a factory making several types of pixuri beside mechanical pencils.^[2] Dictionaries first described the object as a pencil with a lead or a paste worked by a mechanism, and later as a writing tube of coloured paste with a small ball at its tip.^[4][8] Slang uses the word for the penis.^[11]

Timeline

• 1965 – pixuri in the weekly Contemporanul, the first record.^[2][3]
• 1968 – a factory producing pixuri and mechanical pencils.^[2]
• 1980 – cu pixul “with the pen” in a press quotation.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A ballpoint pen: a pen with a refill of ink paste, often worked by a push mechanism.^[4][8][1]
2. (slang) The penis.^[11]

Usage notes

The plural is pixuri.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. pix
3. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 401
4. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 825
5. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan” (1998), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române, 2nd ed., București: Univers Enciclopedic, p. 800
6. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. pix
7. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
8. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
9. ^ a b Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE)
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu