Etymograph

English

pillion

Pillion comes from Scottish Gaelic pillean ‘little rug’, from Latin pellis ‘animal skin, pelt’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pel- ‘to cover, wrap’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pel-1‘to cover, wrap’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pel-ni-s1‘to cover, wrap’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pelnis1‘skin’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpellis2‘animal skin, pelt’
  5. Scottish Gaelicmodernpillean2‘little rug’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1764pillion2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin pellis
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English pillion
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1764, Dennis Donovan, Jacob Andrews Woodward: “Accordingly, he saddled and pillioned his horse, thinking he…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pel-Wiktionary, Latin pellis‘to cover, wrap’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pel-ni-sWiktionary, Latin pellis‘to cover, wrap’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pelnisWiktionary, Latin pellis‘skin’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpellisWiktionary, English pillion‘animal skin, pelt’
  5. Scottish GaelicmodernpilleanWiktionary, English pillion‘little rug’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1764pillionWiktionary, English pillion. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1764, Dennis Donovan, Jacob Andrews Woodward: “Accordingly, he saddled and pillioned his horse, thinking he…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *pel- ‘to cover, wrap’

felt, simple, simply, film, push, powder, complain, fold, filter, pulse, repeal, flaw, palate, pillow, compulsive, expel, pollen, repel, palpable, propel, palatable, palladium, pelt, pall, polemic, wallow, peloton, tuple, palatal, muffle, apoplexy, peplum, pulver, palp, pollinate, interpolate, 63 more

through Latin pellis ‘animal skin, pelt’

pell, 6 more

Today it means

noun A pad behind the saddle of a horse for a second rider.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “pillion”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin pellis. 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 *pel- / pillion

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