English
purging
Purging comes from Latin pūrgō ‘to clean, cleanse, clear, purge, purify’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpūrgō1‘to clean, cleanse, clear, purge, purify’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400purgier1
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500purgen2‘to purge or cleanse the body’
- Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500purgynge3
- Englishearliest quotation 1849purging3
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Middle English purgen
- 2 Wiktionary, Middle English purgynge
- 3 Wiktionary, English purging
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1849, The Journal of Health and Disease: “He had violent pains in his belly, and purgings...”.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpūrgōWiktionary, Middle English purgen‘to clean, cleanse, clear, purge, purify’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400purgierWiktionary, Middle English purgen
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500purgenWiktionary, Middle English purgynge‘to purge or cleanse the body’
- Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500purgyngeWiktionary, English purging
- Englishearliest quotation 1849purgingWiktionary, English purging. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1849, The Journal of Health and Disease: “He had violent pains in his belly, and purgings...”
Formed from purge + -ing
Latin pūrgō ‘to make pure, to cleanse’
Old French purgier
Middle English purgen ‘to purge or cleanse the body’
English purge
Linked words
through Latin pūrgō ‘to clean, cleanse, clear, purge, purify’
through Middle English purgen ‘to purge or cleanse the body’
Today it means
verb A removal of undesirable people.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “purging”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Middle English purgen, Middle English purgynge. 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 pūrgō / purging