pitch

pitch · noun, verb, adjective¹

1. Latin · derived frompix
2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*pik
3. Old English · inherited frompiċ
4. Middle English · inherited frompicche
5. English todaypitch

From Middle English picche, piche, pich, from Old English piċ, from Proto-West Germanic *pik, from Latin pix. Cognate with Ancient Greek πίσσα (píssa, “pitch, tar”), Latin pīnus (“pine”). More at pine. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Pik (“pitch, tar”), Dutch pek (“pitch, tar”), German Low German Pick (“pitch, tar”), German Pech (“pitch, tar”), Catalan pega (“pitch”), Spanish pegar (“to stick, glue”), Franco-Provençal pouatche (“sap from a pine”) and French poix (“sap”). The adjective is probably back-formed from pitch-black, reinterpreting "pitch" as meaning "intense(ly)".

pitch · noun, verb²

1. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*pikkijan
2. Old English · inherited from*piċċan
3. Middle English · derived frompicchen
4. English todaypitch

From Middle English picchen, pycchen (“to thrust in, fasten, settle”), from Old English *piċċan, from Proto-West Germanic *pikkijan, a variant of Proto-West Germanic *pikkōn (“to pick, peck”), whence Middle English pikken, picken (“to pick, pierce”), modern English pick.

pitch · noun, verb³

Unknown. Perhaps from the above sense of "inclination", "level", or "degree", or influenced by it.

Words from the same roots