# Origin of the word pooch?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-pooch/231403>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 27, 2004, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-pooch/231403 "2004-02-27T03:09:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-pooch/231403/1 "2004-02-27T03:09:52Z")

</div>

What’s the origin of the word pooch as a synonym for dog? [m-w.com](http://m-w.com) says “origin unknown,” but what do they know? I defer to the Master.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-pooch/231403/2 "2004-02-27T03:11:34Z")

</div>

Of course I first defer to my fellow Dopers… 🙂

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-pooch/231403/3 "2004-02-27T03:31:43Z")

</div>

It’s more refined than “Pooper”?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-pooch/231403/4 "2004-02-27T04:12:57Z")

</div>

OED says “etymology is obscure”; I’d hazard a guess that it’s onomatopoeic for the way people talk to their dogs.

“Pooch” is also an archaic variant of “pouch,” but I don’t think that gets us anywhere…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-pooch/231403/5 "2004-02-27T19:54:47Z")

</div>

Does OED say if its origins are English? I can’t think of what language it could have come from.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-pooch/231403/6 "2004-02-27T22:24:57Z")

</div>

The OED doesn’t take a stand on the etymology.

Barry Popik has found earlier cites for the slang term(1912) than the OED, always in US papers.

Some members of the American Dialect Society, on the mailing list, have speculated that it comes from Scots dialect “pouch/pooch” but no firm evidence.