Etymology

pivot

P3I1V4O1T1

Today it means: A thing on which something turns; specifically a metal pointed pin or short shaft in machinery, such as the end of an axle or spindle. Full definition →

Middle English pevet ← Old French pivot
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Old French · derived frompivot“hinge pin, pivot”
  2. Middle English · inherited frompevet
  3. English todaypivot

From Middle English pevet, *pivot, from Old French pivot (“hinge pin, pivot”) (12th c.), possibly from Latin pūgiō.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.