Etymograph

English

porn

Porn comes from French pornographie ‘pornography’, and goes back to Ancient Greek πορνογράφος.

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπορνογράφος1pornográphos‘pornographer’
  2. Frenchc. 1600–presentpornographie1‘pornography’
  3. English1500–presentpornography1
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1982porn1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English porn
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1982, Florence King, When Sisterhood Was in Flower: “There are anywhere from ten to twelve chapters in…”.

Lineage

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπορνογράφοςWiktionary, English pornpornográphos‘pornographer’
  2. Frenchc. 1600–presentpornographieWiktionary, English porn‘pornography’
  3. English1500–presentpornographyWiktionary, English porn
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1982pornWiktionary, English porn. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1982, Florence King, When Sisterhood Was in Flower: “There are anywhere from ten to twelve chapters in…”

A compound of πόρνη ‘a female prostitute’ + γράφω ‘to scratch, cut into’

Proto-Indo-European *perh₂- ‘to sell’

Proto-Hellenic *pórnē

Ancient Greek πόρνη ‘a female prostitute’

Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- ‘to carve’

Proto-Hellenic *grə́pʰō ‘to scratch, cut or carve into’

Ancient Greek γράφω ‘to scratch, cut into’

first attested First attested in the mid-20th century (as stated in Wiktionary’s etymology)

The story

First attested in the mid-20th century.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

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Today it means

noun Pornography.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “porn”. 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 / Ancient Greek πορνογράφος / porn