一种酒精饮料的名称，1600年左右。通常说它来自印地语 panch “五”，因其成分数量而得名：柑橘汁、水、烈酒、糖和香料。（这个印地语词最终来自原始印欧语根 *penkwe- “五”。）
这个解释追溯到约翰·弗赖尔的《东印度和波斯的新记述，八封信》（1698年），但词典编纂者们早已注意到语音和历史上的困难。在印度或其他地方，在英语词汇出现之前，没有证据表明存在叫 panch 的饮料；而且现在已知英语词汇在英语人定期前往印度或尝试在印度定居之前就已使用。
类似于五种成分混合饮料的饮品自中世纪以来就在欧洲饮用，使用葡萄酒制作。蒸馏酒在英格兰仅在17世纪才普及，这也是 punch 饮料普及的时期。到1650年代，punch 被称为“印度饮料”。它与中东饮料 sherbet 非常相似，唯一不同的是不含酒精；但这种关联可能与东印度公司贸易有关，使得饮料的异国成分在英格兰变得负担得起。在17世纪的资料中，它同样常与西印度群岛关联：
[T]here is a pernicious sort of Drink in great Reputation and Use amongst them [our Country-men, viz. in Iamaica, Barbadoes and the Leward Islands], call'd, PVNCH , [...] This sort of beloved Liquor is made of Brandy or Run, Sugar, Water, Lime-Iuice, and sometimes Ginger or Nutmegs: Now here are four or five Ingredients, all of as different Natures as Light is from Darkness, and all great Extreams in their kind, except only the Water. [Thomas Tryon, "The planter's speech to his neighbours & country-men of Pennsylvania, East & West Jersey and to all such as have transported themselves into new-colonies for the sake of a quiet retired life." 1684.]
英语 punch 首次证明出现在punch pot（拼写为 paunche pot）一词中，参考可能是指从特定类型的容器中提供的饮料，而不是特定的饮料配方。较早的拼写建议可能与 paunch 有联系或影响。OED中注意到与 puncheon (n.1) 的一个提议联系：“这个名字[...]可能是水手对puncheon的简化，因为水手会期待他们的酒精配给。”但最早的使用并未暗示海洋起源。
A puncheon or poncheon (attested by c. 1400) also was the name of a unit of measurement for wine or liquor of roughly 70 gallons, more than a household’s daily use, but history records punch bowls of considerable size meant to serve large gatherings, which could link it to the vessel. Also compare Middle French dialectal variants of poncheon, such as pochon, with senses that included: a cup or glass, a large ladle for soup, and a kind of three-footed pan or casserole dish.
Compare also Falernum and daiquiri.
