poésie (French)
Where does "poésie" come from?
The word 'poésie' began as the Proto-Indo-European root *kʷey-, meaning to pile up or gather. This evolved into the Ancient Greek word 'poíēsis', which referred generally to creation or fabrication, before narrowing its focus to literary composition. From Greek, it traveled through Late Latin and Middle French, eventually becoming the modern French term for the art of verse.
Full etymology tree
- poésie (French), 'poetry (literature composed in verse)'
- inherited from poesie (Middle French), 'poetry'
- inherited from poesie (Old French)
- inherited from poesia (Late Latin)
- derived from poesis (Latin), 'poetry'
- borrowed from ποίησις (Ancient Greek), 'a creation, fabrication, production'
- derived from ποιέω (Ancient Greek), 'to make'
- inherited from *kʷoiwéyō (Proto-Hellenic), 'to make'
- derived from *poiwós (Proto-Hellenic)
- inherited from *kʷoywós (Proto-Indo-European)
- derived from *kʷey- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to pay'
- inherited from *kʷoywós (Proto-Indo-European)
- derived from *poiwós (Proto-Hellenic)
- inherited from *kʷoiwéyō (Proto-Hellenic), 'to make'
- suffix -σις (Ancient Greek), 'Added to verb stems to form abstract nouns or nouns of action, process, or result'
- inherited from *-tis (Proto-Indo-European), 'Derives abstract/action nouns from verb roots.'
- derived from ποιέω (Ancient Greek), 'to make'
- borrowed from ποίησις (Ancient Greek), 'a creation, fabrication, production'
- derived from poesis (Latin), 'poetry'
- inherited from poesia (Late Latin)
- inherited from poesie (Old French)
- inherited from poesie (Middle French), 'poetry'
Ancestors
- poesie (Middle French)
- ποίησις (Ancient Greek)
Descendants and derived words
- poesi (Danish)
- Poesie (German)
- pwezi (Haitian Creole)
- poezja (Polish)
- poezie (Romanian)
Updated April 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris