Etymograph

English

plew

Plew comes from French poilu ‘hairy’, from poil ‘hair (on the body)’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pil-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pil-1reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpilus1
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400peil1
  4. Frenchc. 1600–presentpoil2‘hair (on the body)’
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presentpoilu3‘hairy’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1967plew3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, French poil
  2. 2 Wiktionary, French poilu
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English plew
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1967, John Arkas Hawgood, America's Western Frontiers: The Exploration and Settlement: “The cured "plew" of the adult beaver weighed about…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pil-Wiktionary, French poilreconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpilusWiktionary, French poil
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400peilWiktionary, French poil
  4. Frenchc. 1600–presentpoilWiktionary, French poilu‘hair (on the body)’
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presentpoiluWiktionary, English plew‘hairy’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1967plewWiktionary, English plew. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1967, John Arkas Hawgood, America's Western Frontiers: The Exploration and Settlement: “The cured "plew" of the adult beaver weighed about…”

Linked words

through Latin pilus

pill, peel, pile, plush, pilar, pellet, peloton, 22 more

Today it means

noun beaver pelt

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “plew”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for French poil, French poilu. 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 *pil- / plew

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