English
pimp
Pimp may come from French pimpant ‘smart, sparkish’.
- Frenchc. 1600–presentpimpant‘smart, sparkish’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1969pimp
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Frenchc. 1600–presentpimpant‘smart, sparkish’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1969pimp
Earliest quotation: 1969, Bonnie Bremser, Troia: Mexican Memoirs: “I'm not a whore. You're a pimp and a…”
The story
The Old English near-synonym was rendered by Old English forspennend (literally “a solicitor”).
Every English word from French pimpant
Another origin of pimp
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pénkʷe‘five’reconstructed
- Proto-Celticc. 1300–800 BCE*kʷenkʷe‘five’reconstructed
- Proto-Brythonicc. 100 BCE–500 CE*pɨmp‘five’reconstructed
- Englishtodaypimp
Today it means
noun Someone who solicits customers for prostitution and acts as manager for a group of prostitutes; a pander.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / French pimpant / pimp