English
pure
Pure comes from Middle English pure, from Old French pur, from Latin pūrus ‘clean, unmixed’, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pewH- ‘to cleanse, purify’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pewH-1‘to cleanse, purify’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pūros2reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpūrus1‘clear, clean, pure’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400pur1‘pure’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pure1
- Englishearliest quotation 1526pure1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English pure
- 2 Wiktionary, Latin purus
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1526, [William Tyndale, The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible): “Laye hondes sodenly on no man nether be part…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pewH-Wiktionary, English pure‘to cleanse, purify’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pūrosWiktionary, Latin purusreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpūrusWiktionary, English pure‘clear, clean, pure’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400purWiktionary, English pure‘pure’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pureWiktionary, English pure
- Englishearliest quotation 1526pureWiktionary, English pure. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1526, [William Tyndale, The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible): “Laye hondes sodenly on no man nether be part…”
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with pure, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Indo-European *pewH- ‘to cleanse, purify’
through Proto-Italic *pūros
- impurity ← impurité ← impuritas ← impūrus ← pūrus
through Latin pūrus ‘clean, free from dirt or filth, unmixed, plain’
- pour ← pouren ← purer ← pūrō
- purity ← purete ← puritas
- purification ← purificacion ← pūrificātiō ← pūrificō
37 more relatives in the full family tree
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Today it means
adj Free of flaws or imperfections; unsullied.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “pure”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin purus. 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-Indo-European *pewH- / pure