Etymograph

English

purity

Purity comes from Latin puritas ‘freedom from pollution, purity’, from pūrus ‘clear, limpid’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pewH- ‘to cleanse, purify’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pewH-1‘to cleanse, purify’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pūros1reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpūrus2‘clear, limpid’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpuritas3‘freedom from pollution, purity’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400purete3
  6. Englishtodaypurity3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin purus
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin puritas
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English purity

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pewH-Wiktionary, Latin purus‘to cleanse, purify’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pūrosWiktionary, Latin purusreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpūrusWiktionary, Latin puritas‘clear, limpid’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpuritasWiktionary, English purity‘freedom from pollution, purity’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400pureteWiktionary, English purity
  6. EnglishtodaypurityWiktionary, English purity

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *pewH- ‘to cleanse, purify’

reputation, deputy, pity, pious, piety, putative, expiation, puro, 15 more

through Proto-Italic *pūros

impure, puree, 7 more

through Latin pūrus ‘clear, limpid’

pure, pour, purification, purify, purist, 9 more

Today it means

noun The state or degree of being pure.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “purity”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin purus, Latin puritas. 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- / purity

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