Word origins

• plum treeA tree that bears plums.
• poddingerSynonym of porringer (“a small cup or bowl”).
• poetressA female poet; a poetess.
• point-deviceA form of lace worked with devices.
• poleynThe part of medieval armour that protected the knee.
• ponderousnessThe quality of being ponderous.
• poornessThe quality of being poor
• popedomThe jurisdiction of the pope.
• popehoodThe status of pope; papacy.
• popinjayA parrot.
• porrayA medieval pudding or stew of leeks and other vegetables (and sometimes meat) simmered in fresh almond milk and/or meat broth.
• porretA scallion; a leek or small onion.
• portassA breviary; a prayer book.
• portershipThe office or duty of a porter
• PortingaleA Portuguese person.
• portmoteA court, or mote, held in a port town.
• portreeveA borough-reeve: an office equivalent to a mayor (historical) in several major English towns or (dialect) in various minor boroughs of Wales and Southwest England.
• portressA female porter (person in control of the entrance to a building)
• possessionateHaving possessions.
• possetA beverage composed of hot milk curdled by some strong infusion, such as wine.
• potagerA kitchen garden; sometimes used attributively.
• potationThe act of drinking.
• potestateA chief ruler; a potentate.
• potfulas much as a pot will hold
• potsherdA piece of ceramic from pottery, often found on an archaeological site.
• poukA small boil, pimple, or pustule.
• poultererA dealer in poultry.
• pourpointA quilted military doublet or gambeson worn in the 14th and 15th centuries.
• poustiePower, authority, strength, health.
• practiserOne who practises.
• praemunire faciasMore fully writ of praemunire facias: a writ directing a sheriff to forewarn a person that they must appear before a court to answer a criminal charge of having brought a suit in or obeyed a foreign (especially papal) court or authority, thus challenging the supremacy of the Crown; a praemunire.
• praiserOne who praises.
• prasineA green gem; an emerald.
• pre-Before; physically in front of.
• predestinateTo predestine.
• pregnablevulnerable to attack
• pregnationPregnancy.
• preparateTo prepare.
• PretloveA surname.
• prick-earedHaving pointed ears.
• pricketA candle.
• priestlessWithout a priest or priests.
• priestressA priestess.
• primum mobileThe outermost celestial sphere of the heavens in Ptolemaic astronomy, which was believed to cause all the inner spheres to rotate.
• princehoodThe state, quality, or condition of being a prince
• prinkto give a wink; to wink.
• pritchpique; offence
• privy councilA body of advisers to a sovereign, functioning much as a cabinet.
• proemialOf or pertaining to a proem or proemium.
• proferTo utter; to pronounce.
• profoundnessThe quality of being profound; profundity
• progenitureprocreation
• prolocutorA spokesman, one who speaks on behalf of others.
• prophetizeTo act as a prophet; to prophesy; to make prophecies.
• protectrixA female who protects.
• protomartyrAny of the first Christian martyrs.
• proudfulFull of pride; excessively proud.
• proudheartedVery proud
• proudnessPride.
• ProvençalOf, from or relating to Provence, a traditional geographic region roughly corresponding to the modern administrative region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.
• provocateTo provoke.
• provokerA person who provokes.
• prucePrussian leather.
• pseudo-False; not genuine; fake.
• pseudoapostleA false apostle.
• pseudoprophetA false prophet; one who only claims to be a prophet.
• puckleThe devil; Satan.
• puerilityThe state, quality, or condition of being childish or puerile.
• puftTo puff.
• pulchritudePhysical beauty.
• pulkA low-slung boatlike sled, used for man-hauling supplies across snow and ice.
• pull outUsed other than figuratively or idiomatically: see pull, out.
• pulveriseTo render into dust or powder.
• puncheonA figured stamp, die, or punch, used by goldsmiths, cutlers, etc.
• punctionA puncture or pricking.
• pur-In words borrowed through Anglo-Norman: involving forward movement or completeness.
• purblindOf a person: having impaired vision; partially blind; dim-sighted.
• purlieuThe ground on the edges of a forest, especially when partly subject to the same forest laws concerning game hunting etc.
• purloinTo take the property of another, often in breach of trust; to appropriate wrongfully; to steal.
• purposerSomeone who purposes something.
• purprestureThe unlawful personal appropriation of public lands; wrongful encroachment on, or enclosure of properties belonging to the public (e.g. highways, sidewalks, forests, harbors).
• pursefulAs much as a purse can hold.
• pursyOut of breath; short of breath, especially due to fatness.
• purveyanceThe act of purveying.
• puttockAny of several birds of prey including the red kite, buzzard and marsh harrier
• pyramisA pyramid.
• pyromancerOne who performs pyromancy.
• quaderTo quadrate.
• quadrilogueA discourse or colloquy by four people.
• quagQuagmire; marsh; bog.
• quaintrelleA woman who is focused on style and leisurely pastimes.
• quarternA quarter part; one fourth.
• quaveTo quiver or tremble.
• quealTo faint away.
• queanA woman, now especially an impudent or disreputable woman; a prostitute.
• quemeTo please, to satisfy.
• quereleA complaint to a court in Old English law.
• querkTo throttle; choke; stifle; suffocate.
• querkenTo querk.
• questionlessCertain; indubitable; unquestionable; not admitting of question or doubt.