Revised as of
17 Dec 2022
I ran across pummel in a story I was reading this morning and was reminded of pommel, which made me want to explore the differences. So I really shouldn’t be calling this a Word Confusion…
I was surprised to learn that one could pommel or pummel someone — both are transitive verbs that refer to hitting people.
Other than a bit of hitting, however, pommel covers a range from gymnastic handles to the knobs on all sorts of objects, such as buildings, saddles, and weapons. Pummel stays more focused on fighting, including the use of words to criticize.
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
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| Pommel | Pummel |
|---|---|
Rapier Parts by Paul K is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Flickr. — Yep, that knobby bit at the top? Yep, that’s a pommel. |
Colin Butts vs Tyler Mertens by Peter Gordon is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Flickr. — Looks like they’re giving each other a good pummeling. |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Noun; Verb, transitive
Plural for the noun: pommels
Third person present verb: pommels
|
Verb, transitive
Third person present verb: pummels
|
| Noun: [Weaponry] A rounded knob on the end of the handle of a sword, dagger, or old-fashioned gun [Horse Training, Riding, & Manège] The upward curving or projecting part of a saddle in front of the rider [Gymnastics] A handgrip that a gymnast uses when performing exercises on a pommel horse [Architecture] Ball, boss, crop, crope, knob, or knot terminal used as a finial for pinnacles, pyramidal roofs, etc. Verb, transitive: |
Strike repeatedly with the fists
[North American; informal] Criticize adversely |
| Examples: | |
| Noun: Grab the pommel before you fall off, you nit! His hand shifted from his thigh to the pommel of his saddle. Tom’s bringing someone in. Across his pommel, Mum. The stone was set like a pommel in the handle of his dagger. With his rifle resting across the pommel of his saddle, Tex sized up the men in front of him. The pommel horse stems from a wooden horse introduced by the Romans and used to teach mounting and dismounting. Flagpoles are typically topped with pommels. Verb, transitive: Pommel some one of your own size. Xavier smiled encouragingly at her, and Zeya looked ready to pommel anyone who touched her. Coming away from one song, during a moment of relative quiet, John simply pommeled the keyboard with a wrist or an elbow, as if to demonstrate that the tones we were hearing were genuine and uncontrived. |
Bob did not fight back for the fifteen minutes that the half-dozen men pummeled him.
I’ll pummel the stuffing outta ya. He rises enraged and pummels Dares mercilessly. I propped myself up on my knees and pummeled him with my fists. I ran to the mirror and began pummeling it with my fist. Feeble fists started pummeling him, beating at his chest. He has been pummeled by the reviewers. What I cannot believe is that the leader of the opposition did not adopt this as his main line of attack and pummel the President on this. And the critics are likely to pummel it mercilessly. |
| Derivatives: | |
| Verb, transitive: pummel | Noun: pummeling, pummelling [British] Verb, transitive: pommel, unpummeled, unpummelled [British] |
| History of the Word: | |
| Middle English denoting a finial at the top of a tower from the Old French pomel, from a diminutive of the Latin pomum meaning fruit, apple. | 1540s, as an alteration of pommel in the verbal sense of to beat repeatedly. Early use, the spelling was pumble, poumle; the current spelling is from c.1600. |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Pommel versus Pummel
Apple Dictionary.com
Dictionary.com: pommel
Encyclopedia: pommel
Oxford Dictionaries: pommel, pummel
Pinterest Photo Credits:
The cropped Musashi vs. Bokuden by Yoshitoshi is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons…with the addition of a very large pommel on the other end of Bokuden’s burning incense.
