Etymology

pimple

P3I1M3P3L1E1

Today it means: An inflamed (raised and colored) spot on the surface of the skin that is usually painful and fills with pus. Full definition →

Middle English pymple ← Old English *pipel ← Proto-Indo-European *pap-
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*pap-“pock mark, nipple”
  2. Old English · derived frompiplian
  3. Old English · inherited from*pipel
  4. Middle English · inherited frompymple
  5. English todaypimple

Early Modern English pimple, pumple, from Middle English pymple, pympyl, of uncertain origin but probably a nasalized variant of Old English *pipel, *pypel, from Old English piplian, pyplian (“to break out in pimples, show eruptions”), probably related to Latin papula (“pimple, pustule”) (from Proto-Indo-European *pap- (“pock mark, nipple”)). Akin to Old English pipliġende (“having shingles”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.