Pour, Pore, Pore - three words
Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2022 5:51 am
These three very different words are often confused. They come from different roots in Middle English and have entirely different meanings, yet the distinction between them is becoming increasingly blurred.
Pore is a noun and means "a minute opening in a surface, especially the skin." It comes from late Middle English via Old French.
As a verb, pore means to "be absorbed in the reading or study of something." It has an entirely different root in Middle English than the noun.
The word Pour sounds the same, but is a totally separate word. It means "flow rapidly in a steady stream" but is often used when the writer means to "be absorbed in the reading or study of something." I think, without fail, of a person pouring molasses on the book or paper that is being pored over.
--Mike Nichols
Pore is a noun and means "a minute opening in a surface, especially the skin." It comes from late Middle English via Old French.
As a verb, pore means to "be absorbed in the reading or study of something." It has an entirely different root in Middle English than the noun.
The word Pour sounds the same, but is a totally separate word. It means "flow rapidly in a steady stream" but is often used when the writer means to "be absorbed in the reading or study of something." I think, without fail, of a person pouring molasses on the book or paper that is being pored over.
--Mike Nichols