"T" Word Origins

TA

Origin

Origin uncertain — possibly imitating a young child's pronunciation of "thanks."

taan

Origin

From Hindi तान (tān)/Urdu تان (tān).

tab

Origin · 1607

First recorded in 1607; the origin of the word is uncertain.

Tabasco

Nahuatl · 1870

The origin of the state's name is debated, with proposed roots in Nahuatl or Mayan; the hot sauce takes its name from the state and the chili pepper grown there, and was popularized in the United States from the 1870s by the McIlhenny Company.

Tabatha

Aramaic

A variant spelling of "Tabitha," ultimately from Aramaic.

tabby

French

From French tabis, ultimately from Arabic al-attabiyya, a district of Baghdad known for producing a type of striped watered silk; the pattern name later transferred to cats with similar markings.

tabellion

Origin

Borrowed from Latin tabelliō.

tabernacle

Latin

From Latin tabernaculum, "tent, booth," a diminutive of taberna, "hut, shed."

tabhanging

Origin

tab + hanging; see tab (“ear”).

Tabitha

Greek

From Aramaic Tabita, meaning "doe" or "gazelle," rendered as "Dorcas" in Greek in the New Testament.

table

Latin

From Latin tabula, "board" or "plank."

tableau

Old French

From French tableau, going back to Old French tablel, meaning a flat surface used for painting.

tablecloth

Middle English

From Middle English forms blending "table" with "cloth," replacing the earlier English phrase "board cloth."

tableland

Origin

From table + land.

tablemount

Origin

Blend of table + seamount.

tables

Origin

Plural of "table," referring to the flat board and its two halves used in the game.

tablet

Latin

From Old French tablete, a small version of table, ultimately from Latin tabula, "board" or "plank."

tabloid

Origin · 1800

Originally a 19th-century trademark for medicine compressed into small tablets (tabl(et) + -oid); the sense later stretched to mean anything condensed, and then specifically to the small, sensational newspaper format.

taboo

Origin · 1700

Borrowed in the late 1700s from Tongan tapu, meaning "forbidden" or "sacred," picked up by European sailors visiting Polynesia.

tabor

Old French

From Old French tabour, tracing back through Arabic and Persian words for a type of drum; a relative of "tambour" and "tambourine."

tabulate

Origin

From Late Latin tabulātus (“having a floor; floored”), perfect passive participle of tabulō (“to fit with planks”), from tabula (“board, plank”), of uncertain origin, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *teh₂- (a variant of *steh₂- (“to stand”)) + *-dʰlom (a variant of *-trom (suffix forming nouns denoting tools or instruments)). Equivalent to table + -ate (verb-forming suffix).

tach

Origin

A clipped form of tachycardia.

Tachibana

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese 橘 or 立花.

tachometer

Origin

From tacho- + -meter.

tachy

Greek

A clipped, informal version of medical terms built on the Greek prefix "tachy-", meaning "swift" or "fast" — the same root found in "tachycardia" and "tachometer."

tachycardia

Ancient Greek

From Ancient Greek takhus ("swift") and kardia ("heart"), built the same way as "bradycardia," its opposite.

tachygraphy

Origin

Derived from Ancient Greek ταχυγράφος (takhugráphos). By surface analysis, tachy- (“fast”) + -graphy (“writing”).

tachyon

Greek · 1967

Coined in 1967 by physicist Gerald Feinberg from Greek takhus, "swift," plus the particle-naming suffix "-on."

tacit

Latin

From Latin tacitus "silent, passed over in silence", the past participle of tacere "to be silent".

taciturn

Latin

From Latin taciturnus "not talkative", from tacitus "silent", from tacere "to be silent".

tack

French

From Middle English tak/takke, meaning a hook or nail, from an Old Northern French word for a peg or pin.

tackle

Middle English

From Middle English takel, "gear" or "apparatus," related to a Middle Dutch word for ship's rigging.

tacky

Origin

From "tack" (in the sense of stickiness) plus the adjective ending "-y."

taco

Spanish

Borrowed from Mexican Spanish taco, whose ultimate origin is debated.

Tacoma

Origin

From Lushootseed təkhoʊʔməʔ, referring to the area around Mount Rainier, meaning roughly "mother of waters."

tact

Latin

From French tact, itself from Latin tactus, "touch" — the idea of a sensitive, careful "touch" in dealing with people.

tactful

Origin

From "tact" plus "-ful."

tactic

Ancient Greek

From Ancient Greek taktikos, "fit for arranging," via New Latin tactica.

tactical

Origin

From "tactic" plus the adjective ending "-al."

tactile

Latin

From Latin tactilis, "able to be touched," from tangere, "to touch."

tactless

Origin

From "tact" plus "-less."

tad

Origin · 1877

A shortening of "tadpole," first used around 1877 to mean a small child, later extended to mean a small amount.

tadpole

Middle English

From Middle English tadpolle, combining "toad" and "poll" (meaning "head") — a reference to the creature's large-headed, tailed shape.

taekwondo

Korean

Borrowed directly from Korean taegwondo.

taenia

Origin

From Latin taenia, from Ancient Greek ταινία (tainía, “ribbon, tape”).

taffeta

Medieval Latin

From Old French taffetas, tracing back through Medieval Latin to a Persian word meaning "woven" or "twisted."

taffy

Origin

Probably related to tafia (“a type of rum”).

Taft

Origin · 1909

In the United States, many of the places established since 1909 are named after William Howard Taft.