poison (English)

Where does "poison" come from?

The English noun 'poison' derives from Middle English 'poysoun'[1], first recorded around 1225[4], which was borrowed from Old French 'poison' or 'poisun'[1]. The term traces back to Latin 'pōtiōnem'[1], the accusative form of 'pōtio', meaning 'drink', 'draught', or 'poisonous draught'[1]. Formed from the Latin verb 'pōtō' ('I drink')[1][3], the word ultimately descends from the Proto-Indo-European root '*peh₃-', meaning 'to drink'[6][7][8]. Over time, the specialized sense of a lethal or medicinal draught came to dominate, largely displacing the native Old English word 'ātor'[1].

Open questions

• The Proto-Italic reconstruction *pōtos involves an unexpected vowel replacement influenced by the root aorist form, and its proposed link to Umbrian punes remains tentative. [6]

Full etymology tree

• poison (English), 'A substance that is harmful or lethal to a living organism when ingested.'
  • inherited poysoun (Middle English), 'A poison; a poisonous substance (especially as a drink)'
    • borrowed poison (Old French), 'poison'
      • inherited potionem (Latin), 'accusative singular of pōtiō'
        • derived potio (Latin), 'drinking'
          • derived poto (Latin), 'to drink'
            • derived potus (Latin), 'drunk (intoxicated)'
              • inherited *pōtos (Proto-Italic), 'drunk'
                • inherited *ph₃tós (Proto-Indo-European), 'drunk'
                  • affix *peh₃- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to drink'
                  • suffix *-tós (Proto-Indo-European), 'Creates verbal adjectives from verb roots.'
                • influenced by *péh₃t (Proto-Indo-European)
            • suffix -o (Latin), 'suffixed to nouns or adjectives. Originally a-stem nouns. Later extended to nouns with other stems. Forms regular first-conjugation verbs'
          • suffix -tio (Latin), '-tion, -ation, -ing; suffixed to verbs to form action nouns denoting a process, action, or result of an action.'

Ancestors

• *peh₃- (Proto-Indo-European)
• poysoun (Middle English)
• poison (Old French)
• potio (Latin)

Descendants and derived words

• antipoison (English)
• arrow poison (English)
• arrow-poison frog (English)
• berry poison (English)
• box poison (English)
• bullock poison (English)
• bushman poison (English)
• bushman's poison (English)
• Champion Bay poison (English)
• Circean poison (English)
• cluster poison (English)
• counterpoison (English)

Related words

• antidote (English)
• venom (English)

Sources

1. poison (English) - Wiktionary
2. poison (Old French) - Wiktionary
3. potio (Latin) - Wiktionary
4. poysoun (Middle English) - Wiktionary
5. poto (Latin) - Wiktionary
6. potus (Latin) - Wiktionary
7. pōtos (Proto-Italic) - Wiktionary
8. ph₃tós (Proto-Indo-European) - Wiktionary
9. poisun (Old French) - Wiktionary

Updated October 2026

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