Other forms: punishments
Punishment is what is done to somebody for breaking a rule. Corporal punishment, capital punishment, a fitting punishment.
The evidence is consistent and awkward: certainty of being caught deters far more than severity, so harsher punishments buy less than they promise. Capital punishment is the death penalty and corporal punishment is physical. Note that the Latin poena means a penalty, which also gives pain.
1nounpunishmentWhat is done to somebody for breaking a rule.
“As a punishment for lying, he wasn't allowed to watch TV for a week.”
punishment is a penalty.
Old French punissement comes from punir, from Latin punire, from poena, a penalty. Pain and penalty come from the same word.
Proto-Indo-European
*kʷey-
Old French
punissement
Middle English
punishement
English, today
punishment
Built from
From Middle English punishement, from Old French punissement, from punir (“to punish”). Equivalent to punish + -ment. Displaced native wīte.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA