• (America) IPA: /ˈpɝpəs/
• (RP) IPA: /ˈpɜːpəs/
• (HK) IPA: /ˈpɜ.pəs/, /ˈpɜ.poʊs/

From Middle English purpos, from Old French purposer (with conjugation altered based on poser), from Latin prō- + pōnere, hence Latin propono.

purpose

1. The end for which something is done, is made or exists.

   Synonyms: end

   What is the purpose of your visit?

   The device can be used for both civilian and military purposes.

2. Function, role.

   The exceptionally small gate-leg table served the purpose of a tea table admirably.

3. (Sense of having a) meaning for existing or doing something.

   Synonyms: meaning

4. Resolution; determination.
   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC ↗, page 190 ↗:

     Perhaps you have heard that there was once some purpose of marriage between the Duc de Joyeuse and myself; it is of that which I have to tell.

5. (obsolete) The subject of discourse; the point at issue.
   • 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, Much Adoe about Nothing. […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC ↗, [Act II, scene iii] ↗:

     […] he was woont to ſpeake plaine, and to the purpoſe (like an honeſt man and a ſouldier) […]

   • 1711 July 31 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “FRIDAY, July 20, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 122; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC ↗, page 151 ↗:

     The speech he made was so little to the purpose, that I shall not trouble my Readers with an account of it; and I believe was not so much designed by the Knight himself to inform the Court, as to give him a figure in my eye […]

     The spelling has been modernized.

• (end, goal) aim, goal, object, target; See also Thesaurus:goal
• (intention) aim, plan, intention; See also Thesaurus:intention
• (determination) determination, intention, resolution
• (subject of discourse) matter, subject, topic
• (reason for doing something) reason

• French: but, objectif
• German: Zweck, Ziel
• Italian: proposito, finalità, scopo, obiettivo
• Portuguese: propósito
• Russian: цель
• Spanish: propósito

• French: intention
• German: Intention, Absicht
• Italian: intenzione, intento
• Portuguese: propósito, intenção, objetivo
• Russian: наме́рение
• Spanish: propósito, intención, objetivo

• Italian: determinazione, decisione, risoluzione
• Russian: реши́мость
• Spanish: decisión, determinación, resolución

• French: sujet
• German: Thema
• Italian: argomento, soggetto
• Russian: те́ма
• Spanish: tema, objeto

• German: Grund
• Italian: proposito
• Portuguese: propósito
• Russian: цель
• Spanish: propósito, objeto, razón

From Middle English purposen, from Old French purposer.

purpose (purposes, present participle purposing; simple past and past participle purposed)

1. (transitive) To have or set as one's purpose or aim; resolve to accomplish; intend; plan.
   • 1485 – Thomas Malory. Le Morte Darthur, Book X, Chapter xxxvi, [https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/MaloryWks2/1:12.32?rgn=div2;view=fulltext leaf 235v]

     Soo was Alysander purposed to ryde to london by the coūceille of sire Tristram to syre Launcelot /

     "So was Alisander purposed to ride to London, by the counsel of Sir Tristram, to Sir Launcelot."

   • 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 1, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC ↗, page 1 ↗:

     I purpose to write the history of England from the accession of King James the Second down to a time which is within the memory of men still living.

2. (intransitive) To have (an) intention, purpose, or design; to intend; to mean.
   • 1622 May 24 (licensing date), John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, “The Prophetesse”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC ↗, Act IV, scene ii, page 39 ↗, column 2:

     Upon my ſoul, / You may beleeve him: nor did he ere purpoſe / To me but nobly; […]

3. (obsolete, intransitive) To discourse.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC ↗, page 366 ↗:

     Whom ouertaking, ſhe in merry ſort
     Them gan to bord, and purpoſe diuerſly, […]

   • 1594, Richard Hooker, “A Preface to Them that Seeke (as They Terme It) the Reformation of Lawes and Orders Ecclesiasticall, in the Church of England ↗”, in J[ohn] S[penser], editor, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], 3rd edition, London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, →OCLC ↗, book I:

     Wherein, as yee heape vp the names of a number of men not vnworthy to bee had in honour; ſo there are a number whom when yee mention, although it ſerue yee to purpoſe with the ignorant and vulgar ſort, who meaſure by tale and not by waight, yet ſurely they who know what qualitie and value the men are of, will thinke yee drawe very neare the dregs.

• (have set as one's purpose) aim, intend, mean, plan, set out
• (designed for some purpose) intended

• German: beabsichtigen, planen, vorschlagen
• Portuguese: propor-se
• Russian: намерева́ться
• Spanish: proponerse

• Russian: служить целью