English
pivot
Pivot comes from Old French pivot ‘hinge pin, pivot’.
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400pivot‘hinge pin, pivot’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pevet
- Englishearliest quotation 1904–1905pivot
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400pivot‘hinge pin, pivot’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pevet
- Englishearliest quotation 1904–1905pivot
Earliest quotation: 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., The Tragedy in Dartmoor Terrace: “The story of this adoption is, of course, the…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *pewǵ- ‘to punch, fist-fight’
point, fuck, punch, fist, poignant, puncture, pungent, repugnant, pygmy, punto, punctuate, compunction, pugnacious, impugn, pugilist, 41 more
Today it means
noun A thing on which something turns; specifically a metal pointed pin or short shaft in machinery, such as the end of an axle or spindle.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old French pivot / pivot