Etymology

puss

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Today it means: A cat. Full definition →

Middle Low German pūse ← Dutch poes ← Germanic
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puss · noun1

  1. Germanic · derived from
  2. Dutch · derived frompoes“puss, cat”, also slang for “vulva”
  3. Middle Low German · derived frompūse
  4. English todaypuss

Probably from Middle Low German pūse, pūskatte or Dutch poes (“puss, cat”, also slang for “vulva”), ultimately from a common Germanic word for cat, perhaps ultimately imitative of a sound made to get its attention (compare Arabic بسة (bissa)). Akin to West Frisian poes, Low German Puus, Puuskatte, Danish pus, dialectal Swedish kattepus, Norwegian pus. Found also in several other European, North African and Asian languages; compare Romanian pisică, Persian پیشی (piši), Tamil பூசை (pūcai), Tagalog pusa and Sardinian pisittu.

puss · noun2

  1. Middle Irish · derived frombus
  2. Irish · derived frompus“mouth, lip”
  3. English todaypuss

Of Celtic origin, from or akin to Irish pus (“mouth, lip”), from Middle Irish bus. Compare also Middle Low German pussen (“to kiss”), Middle High German bussen (“to kiss”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.