pawn [LME] There are two separate words here. The pawn in chess came via Anglo-Norman French poun, from medieval Latin pedo ‘foot soldier’, from Latin pes, ped- ‘foot’ (source of pedal [E17th], pedestal [M16th], pedestrian [M17th]), and via French pionnier pioneer [E16th], which originally meant a foot soldier. Figurative use ‘a person used by others for their own purposes’ is recorded from the late 16th century. In the sense ‘to deposit an object as security for money lent’, pawn entered English from French pan ‘pledge, security’ in the 15th century.