Etymology

pout

P3O1U1T1

Today it means: To push out one's lips; especially, to do so in a gesture of dismay, either serious or playful. Full definition →

Middle English pouten ← Proto-Germanic *pūto ← Proto-Indo-European *bu-
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

pout · verb, noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*bu-“to swell”
  2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*pūto“swollen”
  3. Middle English · inherited frompouten
  4. English todaypout

From Middle English pouten, probably from Scandinavian (compare Norwegian pute (“pillow, cushion”), dial. Swedish puta (“to be puffed out”), Danish pude (“pillow, cushion”)), from Proto-Germanic *pūto (“swollen”) (compare English eelpout, Dutch puit, Low German puddig (“inflated”)), from Proto-Indo-European *bu- (“to swell”) (compare Sanskrit बुद्बुद (budbuda, “bubble”)).

pout · noun2

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*bew-“to swell”
  2. Old English · inherited from*pūte
  3. Middle English · inherited from*poute
  4. English todaypout

From Middle English *poute, from Old English *pūte as in ǣlepūta, ǣlepūte (“eelpout”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bew- (“to swell”). Related to pout (“to push one's lip out”).

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*bew- all →

pocketpickpollposeembosspockpough

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.