English
pressure
Pressure comes from Latin pressūra ‘a pressing, pressure’, and goes back to premō.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpremō1‘to press’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpressūra1‘a pressing’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1599–1602pressure1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English pressure
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: “All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past.”.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpremōWiktionary, English pressure‘to press’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpressūraWiktionary, English pressure‘a pressing’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1599–1602pressureWiktionary, English pressure. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: “All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past.”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *pres- ‘to press’
first, frist, impressionistic, 28 more
through Proto-Italic *pres-
impressionable, impressionist, impressionism, expressionism, 30 more
through Latin premō ‘to press, push, press close or hard, oppress,…’
pregnant, depression, expression, express, impressive, impression, compression, imprint, oppression, impress, suppression, depressive, sprain, reprimand, compress, depress, repress, imprimatur, 34 more
Today it means
noun A pressing; a force applied to a surface.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “pressure”. 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 / Latin premō / pressure