Pute
/pjuːt/noun
An obsolete or archaic term for a prostitute.
Did you know?The word is related to French pute and Italian puttana, while its deeper Latin background involved words for children and young people before developing sexual meanings.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*peuH-
“A reconstructed root associated with being small, young, or little.”
Classical Latin
Latin
putus / puta
“A boy or girl; later, puta could refer to a prostitute.”
Late Latin
Latin
putta
“A girl or young woman, with the word developing a sexual sense in Romance usage.”
Old French
Old French
pute
“A prostitute; also used as an abusive term for a sexually immoral woman.”
Middle English
English
pute
“An archaic or obsolete English term for a prostitute.”
Modern English
English
pute
“A rare historical or dialectal word, chiefly encountered in dictionaries and texts discussing older sexual vocabulary.”