Etymograph

English

pasture

Pasture comes from Latin pastūra ‘pasture, grazing ground’, from Proto-Indo-European *péh₂sti ‘to guard, to protect’, and ultimately from *peh₂-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peh₂-1‘to protect, to ward’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*péh₂sti1‘to guard, to protect’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pāskōr1reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpāscor1
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpastūra1‘pasture, grazing ground’
  6. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400pastour1
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pasture1
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1590pasture1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English pasture
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book III, Canto X: “Ne euer is he wont on ought to feed,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peh₂-Wiktionary, English pasture‘to protect, to ward’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*péh₂stiWiktionary, English pasture‘to guard, to protect’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pāskōrWiktionary, English pasturereconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpāscorWiktionary, English pasture
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpastūraWiktionary, English pasture‘pasture, grazing ground’
  6. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400pastourWiktionary, English pasture
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pastureWiktionary, English pasture
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1590pastureWiktionary, English pasture. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book III, Canto X: “Ne euer is he wont on ought to feed,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- ‘to protect, to ward’

food, company, father, pain, feed, pope, pattern, foster, companion, apparent, fur, penetration, papa, patriot, patron, fodder, perpetrator, fad, forage, accompaniment, paternal, paternity, pastoral, ayr, padre, perpetrate, patrician, panini, patrimony, pater, pav, pantaloons, compere, pannier, 58 more

through Proto-Indo-European *péh₂sti ‘to guard, to protect’

pastor, 10 more

Today it means

noun Land, specifically, an open field, on which livestock is kept for feeding.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “pasture”. 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 *peh₂- / pasture

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