# purse

> English word · Noun · IPA /pɜːs/ · frequency rank #7,727

## Definitions
1. A small bag for carrying money.
2. A handbag (small bag usually used by women for carrying various small personal items)
3. A quantity of money given for a particular purpose.
4. A specific sum of money in certain countries: formerly 500 piastres in Turkey or 50 tomans in Persia.

## Etymology
From Middle English purs, from Old English purs (“purse”), partly from pusa (“wallet, bag, scrip”) and partly from burse (“pouch, bag”).
Old English pusa comes from Proto-West Germanic *pusō, from Proto-Germanic *pusô (“bag, sack, scrip”), and is cognate with Old High German pfoso (“pouch, purse”), Low German pūse (“purse, bag”), Old Norse posi (“purse, bag”), Danish pose (“purse, bag”), Dutch beurs (“purse, bag”). Old English burse comes from Medieval Latin bursa (“leather bag”) (compare English bursar), from Ancient Greek βύρσα (búrsa, “hide, wine-skin”).
Compare also Old French borse (French bourse), Old Saxon bursa (“bag”), Old High German burissa (“wallet”).

## Easily confused with
- **pus** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/purse-vs-pus)
- **push** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/purse-vs-push)
- **puts** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/purse-vs-puts)
- **puss** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/purse-vs-puss)
- **pyre** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/purse-vs-pyre)
- **pussy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/purse-vs-pussy)
- **pursue** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/purse-vs-pursue)
- **pursued** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/purse-vs-pursued)
- **pur** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pur-vs-purse)
- **PRS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/prs-vs-purse)
- **pure** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pure-vs-purse)
- **pose** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pose-vs-purse)
- **pubs** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pubs-vs-purse)
- **Pune** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pune-vs-purse)
- **pups** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pups-vs-purse)
- **pore** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pore-vs-purse)
- **puke** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/puke-vs-purse)
- **puns** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/puns-vs-purse)
- **pars** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pars-vs-purse)
- **pers** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pers-vs-purse)

## Common misspellings (7)
`ppurse`, `pruse`, `pures`, `purrse`, `pursse`, `pusre`, `uprse`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/purse