English
powder
Powder comes from Old French poudre, and goes back to Latin pulvis ‘dust, powder’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpulvis‘dust, powder’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEpulveremaccusative singular of pulvis
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400poudre
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500poudre‘Dust’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1588–1593powder
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpulvis‘dust, powder’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEpulveremaccusative singular of pulvis
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400poudre
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500poudre‘Dust’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1588–1593powder
Earliest quotation: c. 1588–1593, William Shakespeare, The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus: “Let me goe grin'd their Bones to powder ſmall,…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *pel- ‘flour, dust’
film, felt, simple, simply, push, complain, fold, pulse, filter, repeal, flaw, palate, compulsive, expel, pollen, repel, palpable, palladium, propel, palatable, pall, pelt, peloton, wallow, tuple, polemic, palatal, muffle, pollinate, peplum, palp, pillion, apoplexy, interpolate, 63 more
through Latin pulvis ‘dust, powder’
Today it means
noun The fine particles which are the result of reducing a dry substance by pounding, grinding, or triturating, or the result of decay; dust.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin pulvis / powder