Etymology

punish

pun·ish
P3U1N1I1S1H4

Today it means: To cause (a child, student, or someone else being looked after, or a suspect or criminal) to suffer for crime or misconduct, to administer disciplinary action, typically by an authority or a person in authority (for example: a parent, teacher, or police officer). Full definition →

Middle English punischen ← Latin puniō
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Latin · derived frompuniō“to inflict punishment upon”
  2. Middle English · inherited frompunischen
  3. English todaypunish

From Middle English punischen, from Anglo-Norman, Old French puniss-, stem of some of the conjugated forms of punir, from Latin puniō (“to inflict punishment upon”), from poena (“punishment, penalty”); see pain. Displaced Old English wītnian and (mostly, in this sense) wrecan.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.