When something really stinks, you might hold your nose, waft your other hand, and shout “pee-yoo” in disgust. Or is that sound spelled “pugh,” “pew,” or “P.U.”? Truth be told, there’s no one clear answer for this olfactory exclamation, but we can dig for more info.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, people began using this sound to express a sense of disgust by 1604. “Pue” was perhaps the earliest spelling, soon written as “pew,” “peuh,” and “peugh.” “P.U.” is another perfectly acceptable spelling, though it’s not an acronym. The letters convey the “pee-yoo” sounds in the most straightforward way possible.
While the various spellings capture the same sense of contempt, they also display the collective lack of agreement about how the word should be written. While the OED says “pew,” Merriam-Webster says “pugh,” and Collins Dictionary has “P.U.” All this goes to show that many spellings are considered legitimate, depending on the source. (Perhaps “P.U.” hasn’t been a high priority for lexicographers, but we’re bringing it to their esteemed attention.)
We can’t claim a universally accepted spelling for “pee-yoo” (although we do generally follow Merriam-Webster on Word Smarts, so we’re leaning toward “pugh”), but we can try to trace the sound’s origins — though that, too, is inconclusive. One theory is that the sound comes from the Indo-European term pū̆, which roughly translates to “foul or rotten.” Another idea is that saying “pee-yoo” is just an exaggeration of “phew” — a term that’s primarily used as an exclamation of relief but can also be used to convey disgust. Wherever it comes from, over 400 years of use tells us that saying “pee-yoo” is a sure way to convey that something stinks.
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