entry
pure
/pjʊr/Free from contamination, flaws, or moral corruption
From Latin, via Old French pure (Clean).
from PIE root *peue- "to purify, cleanse" (source also of Latin putus "clear, pure;" Sanskrit pavate "purifies,...
+1 more sourcefrom Old French pur "pure, simple, absolute, unalloyed," figuratively "simple, sheer, mere" (12c.)
+1 more sourcefrom Old French pur "pure, simple, absolute, unalloyed," figuratively "simple, sheer, mere" (12c.)
+1 more sourcefrom Old French pur "pure, simple, absolute, unalloyed," figuratively "simple, sheer, mere" (12c.)
+1 more sourceWord Ancestry
from PIE root *peue- "to purify, cleanse" (source also of Latin putus "clear, pure;" Sanskrit pavate "purifies,...
+1 more sourcefrom Old French pur "pure, simple, absolute, unalloyed," figuratively "simple, sheer, mere" (12c.)
+1 more sourcefrom Old French pur "pure, simple, absolute, unalloyed," figuratively "simple, sheer, mere" (12c.)
+1 more sourcefrom Old French pur "pure, simple, absolute, unalloyed," figuratively "simple, sheer, mere" (12c.)
+1 more sourcePicture a medieval goldsmith holding up a piece of metal and judging whether it is truly unalloyed: that practical sense is where pure first appears in English around the mid-13th century. It arrived through Old French pur from Latin pūrus, carrying both physical cleanliness and the more delicate idea of being undefiled. English already had words such as Old English hlūtor, “clear” or “pure,” but pure gradually pushed them aside—a linguistic takeover conducted without a single battlefield. Its cleansing ancestry also surfaces in purge and castigate, whose original logic was to “make pure,” even if the later method involved punishment; pious may be a cousin too, though scholars dispute that connection. By 1872, mathematicians and musicians were using pure for exactness and perfection, so a word that began with clean metal now describes everything from a pure tone to a pure mathematical relationship.
The Story
Picture a medieval goldsmith holding up a piece of metal and judging whether it is truly unalloyed: that practical sense is where pure first appears in English around the mid-13th century. It arrived through Old French pur from Latin pūrus, carrying both physical cleanliness and the more delicate idea of being undefiled. English already had words such as Old English hlūtor, “clear” or “pure,” but pure gradually pushed them aside—a linguistic takeover conducted without a single battlefield. Its cleansing ancestry also surfaces in purge and castigate, whose original logic was to “make pure,” even if the later method involved punishment; pious may be a cousin too, though scholars dispute that connection. By 1872, mathematicians and musicians were using pure for exactness and perfection, so a word that began with clean metal now describes everything from a pure tone to a pure mathematical relationship.
Modern Usage
An informal compliment meaning innocent, cute, or exceptionally beautiful
Notable References
- Urban Dictionary entries using pure for an innocent, cute, or exceptionally beautiful person
Kin & Kindred
From 'pure'·Clean, unmixed, undefiled
Derived Terms
English words from this root
Sources
Free Dictionary
Urban Dictionary
Wiktionary