Etymograph

English

pox

Pox comes from Middle English pocke.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pocke1
  2. Englishearliest quotation c. 1604–1605pox1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English pox
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1604–1605, William Shakespeare, All’s Well, that Ends Well: “A pox on him, he's a cat still.”.

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pockeWiktionary, English pox
  2. Englishearliest quotation c. 1604–1605poxWiktionary, English pox. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1604–1605, William Shakespeare, All’s Well, that Ends Well: “A pox on him, he's a cat still.”

The story

The curse sense involves metonymy: wishing a literal pox upon someone is the original form of pox-relevant curse, and the word pox itself also came to mean curse.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Every English word from Middle English pocke

Today it means

noun A disease characterized by skin eruptions (especially purulent ones) that may leave pockmarks.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “pox”. 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 / Middle English pocke / pox

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