pulse

pulse · noun¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*pel-“to beat, strike; to drive; to push, thrust”
2. Latin · derived frompulsus“beat, impulse, pulse, stroke; regular beat of arteries or the heart”
3. Old French · derived frompous
4. Middle French · derived frompouls
5. Anglo-Norman · derived frompuls
6. Middle English · inherited frompous
7. Middle English · inherited frompulse
8. English todaypulse

From Late Middle English pulse, Middle English pous, pouse (“regular beat of arteries, pulse; heartbeat; place on the body where a pulse is detectable; beat (of a musical instrument); energy, vitality”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman puls, pous, pus, and Middle French pouls, poulz, pous [and other forms], Old French pous, pulz (“regular beat of arteries; place on the body where a pulse is detectable”) (modern French pouls), and from their etymon Latin pulsus (“beat, impulse, pulse, stroke; regular beat of arteries or the heart”), from pellō (“to drive, impel, propel, push; to banish, eject, expel; to set in motion; to strike”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“to beat, strike; to drive; to push, thrust”)) + -sus (a variant of -tus (suffix forming action nouns from verbs)).

pulse · verb²

1. Latin · derived frompulsāre
2. Middle English · inherited frompulsen“to pulse, throb”
3. Middle English · inherited frompulse
4. English todaypulse

From Late Middle English pulse, Middle English pulsen (“to pulse, throb”), from Latin pulsāre, the present active infinitive of pulsō (“to push; to beat, batter, hammer, strike; to knock on; (figuratively) to drive or urge on, impel; to move; to agitate, disquiet, disturb”), the frequentative of pellō (“to drive, impel, propel, push; to banish, eject, expel; to set in motion; to strike”); see further at etymology 1. Doublet of push.

pulse · noun³

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*pel-“dust; flour”
2. Ancient Greek · derived fromπόλτος“porridge made from flour”
3. Latin · derived frompuls“meal (coarse-ground edible part of various grains); porridge”
4. Old French · derived frompous
5. Middle French · derived frompouls
6. Anglo-Norman · derived frompus
7. Middle English · inherited frompols
8. Middle English · inherited frompuls“(collectively) seeds of a leguminous plant used as food; leguminous plants collectively; a species of leguminous plant”
9. English todaypulse

From Middle English puls (“(collectively) seeds of a leguminous plant used as food; leguminous plants collectively; a species of leguminous plant”), Early Middle English pols (in compounds), possibly from Anglo-Norman pus, puz, Middle French pouls, pols, pous, and Old French pous, pou (“gruel, mash, porridge”) (perhaps in the sense of a gruel made from pulses), or directly from their etymon Latin puls (“meal (coarse-ground edible part of various grains); porridge”), probably from Ancient Greek πόλτος (póltos, “porridge made from flour”), from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“dust; flour”) (perhaps by extension from *pel- (“to beat, strike; to drive; to push, thrust”), in the sense of something beaten).

Words from the same roots