Put

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /pʊt/

Definitions

1. to place something in a specific location or position
2. To move an object into a particular spot or position
3. To place or lay something down in a chosen location

Etymology: The most surprising thing about "put" is how little of its story is settled. Its earliest English forms, "pitten" and "pytten," appear in Middle English, but the verb seems to have grown from a much older Germanic idea of pushing or thrusting rather than placing. Old English had "potian," meaning to push, thrust, strike, or goad, and "pȳtan," meaning to poke or thrust out, including putting out eyes. The sense of setting something down came later, as a gentler extension of that original shove. Related forms across the Germanic languages point the same way. Dutch "poten" and Low German "paten" both mean to set or plant, while Swedish "putta" means to strike or push gently, and Icelandic "pota" means to poke. These cousins preserve the physical action of thrusting that English gradually softened into placing. The deeper origin is uncertain. It may connect to a Proto-Germanic root that also produced words for an arrow or a blunt end, which would fit the idea of a thrust, but this link remains a proposal rather than a proven fact.

Synonyms: place, set, position, locate, deposit

Antonyms: remove, take, extract, withdraw, displace