English
punim
Punim comes from Yiddish פּנים ‘face’, and goes back to Proto-Semitic *pan-.
- Proto-Semiticc. 4000–3000 BCE*pan-root as named · steps between not traced
- Hebrew1880s–presentפָּנִיםpaním‘face’
- Yiddishmodernפּניםponem‘face’
- Englishearliest quotation 1969punim
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Semiticc. 4000–3000 BCE*pan-root as named · steps between not traced
- Hebrew1880s–presentפָּנִיםpaním‘face’
- Yiddishmodernפּניםponem‘face’
- Englishearliest quotation 1969punim
Earliest quotation: 1969, Philip Roth, Portnoy’s Complaint: “I can’t help it that I’m so beautiful they…”
Every English word from Proto-Semitic *pan-
Today it means
noun The face (front part of the head).
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Semitic *pan- / punim