Etymograph

English

push

Push comes from Middle English pushen, from Middle French pousser, from Latin pulsō ‘to push, beat’, from pellō ‘to drive’, perhaps ultimately from PIE *pel-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pel-‘to drive, strike, thrust’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pelnōuncertain
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpellō‘to push, drive; to strike’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEpulsōas pulsare‘to push, strike, beat’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400poulser
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600pousser
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pushen
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1611push

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pel-‘to drive, strike, thrust’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pelnōuncertain
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpellō‘to push, drive; to strike’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEpulsōas pulsare‘to push, strike, beat’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400poulser
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600pousser
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pushen
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1611push

Earliest quotation: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “If the ox shall push a manservant or maidservant,…”

The story

Partly displaced native Old English sċūfan, whence Modern English shove.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *pel-

film, felt, simple, simply, filter, powder, complain, fold, pillow, repeal, flaw, pollen, impulse, palate, expel, repel, palpable, palladium, propel, compulsive, palatable, pall, pelt, wallow, peloton, polemic, tuple, pollinate, palatal, muffle, apoplexy, peplum, palp, pillion, interpolate, pulver, 62 more

through Latin pulsō ‘to beat, strike’

pulse, pulsation, 5 more

Today it means

verb To apply a force to (an object) such that it moves away from the person or thing applying the force.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *pel- / push

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