English
pain
Pain comes from Latin poena ‘punishment, pain’, from Ancient Greek ποινή ‘bloodmoney, weregild, fine, price paid, penalty’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷey- ‘to pay’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷey-1‘to pay’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷoynéh₂2‘payment’reconstructed
- Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*kʷoinā́2reconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEποινή2poinḗ‘bloodmoney’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpoena2‘punishment’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500peyne2
- Englishearliest quotation 1629pain2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *kʷoynéh₂
- 2 Wiktionary, English pain
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1629, Francis Bacon: “We will, by way of mulct or pain, lay…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷey-Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *kʷoynéh₂‘to pay’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷoynéh₂Wiktionary, English pain‘payment’reconstructed
- Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*kʷoinā́Wiktionary, English painreconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEποινήWiktionary, English painpoinḗ‘bloodmoney’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpoenaWiktionary, English pain‘punishment’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500peyneWiktionary, English pain
- Englishearliest quotation 1629painWiktionary, English pain. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1629, Francis Bacon: “We will, by way of mulct or pain, lay…”
The story
Partly displaced native Old English sār (whence Modern English sore).
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with pain, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Indo-European *kʷey- ‘to pay’
through Ancient Greek ποινή ‘bloodmoney, weregild, fine, price paid, penalty’
through Latin poena ‘punishment, pain’
- punishment ← punishement ← punissement ← punir ← puniō
- punish ← punischen ← puniō
- pine ← pyne ← *pīnā
- penal ← peinal ← penalis ← poenalis
32 more relatives in the full family tree
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Today it means
noun An ache or bodily suffering, or an instance of this; an unpleasant sensation, resulting from a derangement of functions, disease, or injury by violence; hurt.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “pain”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Proto-Indo-European *kʷoynéh₂. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *kʷey- / pain