Other forms: poles
A pole is a long rounded rod, or either end of the earth's axis. A tent pole, the North Pole, poles apart.
The two senses are different words that fell together. The magnetic poles are not the geographic ones and they move, which is why compasses need correcting. Poles apart means as different as possible. Note that the rod sense comes from the Latin palus, a stake.
1nounpoleA long rounded rod.
“They fixed the flag to a tall wooden pole outside the school.”
2nounendEither end of the earth's axis.
“Amundsen's team was the first to reach the South Pole, in 1911.”
pole is a rod, or an axis end.
Old English pal, a stake, comes from Latin palus. The pole of an axis comes separately from Greek polos, a pivot.
Proto-Indo-European
*peh₂ǵ-
Middle English
pole
English, today
pole
From Middle English pole. From Middle English pole, pal, from Old English pāl (“a pole, stake, post; a kind of hoe or spade”), from Proto-West Germanic pāl (“pole”), from Latin pālus (“stake, pale, prop, stay”), perhaps from itc-ola paxlos, from Proto-Italic pākslos, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European peh₂ǵ- (“to nail, fasten”). a doublet of peel#Etymology 2 and pale#Etymology 2 and palus. 2
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA