Etymograph

English

prune

Prune comes from Old French prune ‘plum (fruit)’, from Vulgar Latin *prūna ‘a burning coal, live coal, glowing charcoal’, and ultimately from Ancient Greek προῦμνον ‘plum’.

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπροῦμνον1proûmnon‘plum’
  2. Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEπροῦνον1proûnonvariant of προῦμνον
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprūnum1
  4. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*prūna1‘a burning coal, live coal, glowing charcoal’reconstructed
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400prune1‘plum (fruit)’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500prune1‘a plum’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1970prune1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English prune
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1970, Dana Densmore, Without You And Within You: “We are not free when we are in the…”.

Lineage

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπροῦμνονWiktionary, English pruneproûmnon‘plum’
  2. Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEπροῦνονWiktionary, English pruneproûnonvariant of προῦμνον
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprūnumWiktionary, English prune
  4. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*prūnaWiktionary, English prune‘a burning coal, live coal, glowing charcoal’reconstructed
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400pruneWiktionary, English prune‘plum (fruit)’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pruneWiktionary, English prune‘a plum’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1970pruneWiktionary, English prune. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1970, Dana Densmore, Without You And Within You: “We are not free when we are in the…”

Linked words

through Latin prūnum

plum, 1 more

Another origin of prune

  1. Old Frenchc. 842–1400proignier‘to trim the feathers with the beak’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500prunen
  3. Englishtodayprune

Likely influenced by Middle French rogner, Old French rooignier (‘cut, trim’) (from Latin rotundo?), and possibly by Old French provainier (‘provine’) (Latin propaginem? whence French provigner). The relation to the noun is thus unclear.uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.

Today it means

noun A plum.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “prune”. 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 προῦμνον / prune

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