parboil

The story

1. Latin · derived fromper“thoroughly”
2. Medieval Latin · derived fromperbulliō
3. Old French · derived fromparbouillir“to boil thoroughly”
4. Middle English · inherited fromparboyle
5. English todayparboil

From Middle English parboyle, from Old French parbouillir (“to boil thoroughly”), from Medieval Latin perbulliō, from Latin per (“thoroughly”) + bulliō (“to boil”). Sense “to boil partially” (c.1440), rather than original “to boil thoroughly” is by corruption: associating the prefix with part (from Latin pars (“part”)) rather than per.

Words from the same roots