Poisson (English)

Where does "Poisson" come from?

The English name Poisson is an unadapted borrowing from French[1]. In its noun sense, it honors the French mathematician Siméon Denis Poisson, who lived from 1781 to 1840[1]. The French surname itself derives from the French noun 'poisson', meaning 'fish'[1][2]. This French term ultimately traces back through Middle French and Old French forms to the Latin 'piscem'[3].

Open questions

• The derivation from Latin 'piscem' has an alternative, though less likely, proposed path through a Vulgar Latin form. [3]

Full etymology tree

• Poisson (English), 'A surname in French'
  • borrowed Poisson (French), 'a metonymic surname'
    • derived poisson (French), 'fish (marine animal)'
      • inherited poisson (Middle French), 'fish'
        • inherited poisson (Old French), 'fish'
          • derived peisson (Old French), 'alternative form of poisson'
            • derived peis (Old French), 'alternative form of pais'
              • inherited piscem (Latin), 'accusative singular of piscis'
            • suffix -on (French), 'forms diminutives of things, including some animals'

Ancestors

• Poisson (French)

Sources

1. Poisson (English) - Wiktionary
2. Poisson (French) - Wiktionary
3. poisson (French) - Wiktionary

Updated September 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris