Pup
nounA young dog, or the young of certain other animals such as seals or wolves.
How to spell pup
3 letters · 1 syllable
How to pronounce pup
What does pup mean?
- nounA young dog, or the young of certain other animals such as seals or wolves.
Pup in a sentence
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The new pup chewed through a pair of slippers overnight.
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The rescue centre takes in every abandoned pup it can find.
Where does pup come from?
Language of origin: French
This short, blunt word is a clipped form of 'puppy', which appeared in English in the late 1500s. 'Puppy' is thought to come from the Old French 'poupee', meaning a doll or plaything, so the earliest sense leaned on the idea of a small toy or pet rather than specifically a young dog. Over time the word narrowed to mean the offspring of a dog, and the snappier one-syllable 'pup' broke off as an affectionate clipping in the 1700s. The same French 'poupee' root, meaning doll, also lies behind 'puppet', which is why a pup and a puppet are distant linguistic cousins. The spelling is mercifully phonetic: three letters, one sound for each, with no hidden traps.
How the word is built
- pup (shortened form of 'puppy', itself a playful diminutive)
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