Etymograph

English

pout

Pout comes from Middle English pouten ‘to pout’, and perhaps goes back to Proto-Germanic *pūtō ‘swollen’.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*pūtō1‘swollen’uncertain
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pouten2‘to pout’
  3. Englishtodaypout2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Middle English pouten
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English pout

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*pūtōWiktionary, Middle English pouten‘swollen’uncertain
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500poutenWiktionary, English pout‘to pout’
  3. EnglishtodaypoutWiktionary, English pout

The story

From Middle English pouten, probably from Scandinavian (compare Norwegian pute (‘pillow, cushion’), dial. Swedish puta (‘to be puffed out’), Danish pude (‘pillow, cushion’)), from Proto-Germanic *pūto (‘swollen’) (compare English eelpout, Dutch puit, Low German puddig (‘inflated’)), from Proto-Indo-European *bu- (‘to swell’) (compare Sanskrit बुद्बुद (budbuda, “bubble”)).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Every English word from Proto-Germanic *pūtō

Today it means

verb To push out one's lips; especially, to do so in a gesture of dismay, either serious or playful.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “pout”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Middle English pouten. 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-Germanic *pūtō / pout

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