pulluler (French)

Where does "pulluler" come from?

The French verb 'pulluler', meaning 'to teem' or 'to swarm', is a direct borrowing from Latin 'pullulāre'[1]. In Latin, the verb 'pullulō' was derived from the noun 'pullulus'[2], a diminutive formed from 'pullus' to denote a young animal or a plant sprout[2][3]. Over time, the image of sprouting shoots and burgeoning young offspring developed into the modern sense of rapidly multiplying or overflowing in great numbers.

Open questions

The ultimate origin of Latin 'pullus' is disputed, with plausible derivations tracing back to either Proto-Indo-European '*polH-on-' meaning 'offspring', or to roots related to '*put-' meaning 'boy' or 'young animal'. [4]
An alternative proposal views Latin 'pullus' as an onomatopoeic formation rather than a derivative of an older Indo-European root. [4]

Full etymology tree

pulluler (French), 'to teem'
- borrowed pullulare (Latin), 'inflection of pullulō:'
  - derived pullulo (Latin), 'to put forth, sprout out, come forth'
    - suffix pullulus (Latin), 'diminutive of pullus:'
      - suffix pullus (Latin), 'any young animal, young'
      - suffix -ulus (Latin), 'Used to form a diminutive of a noun, indicating small size or youth.'
    - suffix -o (Latin), 'suffixed to nouns or adjectives. Originally a-stem nouns. Later extended to nouns with other stems. Forms regular first-conjugation verbs'

Ancestors

pullulo (Latin)

Sources

Updated September 2026

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