Etymograph

English

pitch

Pitch (throw; field) comes from Middle English picchen ‘to thrust in, fasten’, from Old English *piċċan, from Proto-West Germanic *pikkijan.

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*pikkijan1reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150*piċċan1reconstructed
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500picchen1‘to thrust in, fasten’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1611pitch1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English pitch
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: ““Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*pikkijanWiktionary, English pitchreconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150*piċċanWiktionary, English pitchreconstructed
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500picchenWiktionary, English pitch‘to thrust in, fasten’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1611pitchWiktionary, English pitch. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: ““Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt…”

Linked words

through Latin pix ‘pitch, tar’

pay, 2 more

through Old English piċ

peak, pike

Another origin of pitch

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*pikkijanreconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150*piċċanreconstructed
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500picchen‘to thrust in, fasten, settle’
  4. Englishtodaypitch

Today it means

noun A sticky, gummy substance secreted by trees; tree sap.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “pitch”. 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-West Germanic *pikkijan / pitch

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