"T" Word Origins

ti

Origin · 1812

Coined in 1812 by music teacher Sarah Anna Glover, replacing an earlier syllable "si" so every solfège note began with a different letter.

Tia

Origin

Invented in the latter half of the twentieth century. It can be explained as a short form of Letitia or Venetia, or from Estonian Tiia, pet form of Dorothea.

tian

French

From French, ultimately from Greek tēganon, "frying pan."

Tiana

Origin

Modern contraction of Tatiana and Christiana. In the USA it is also explained as a form of Diana in such unrelated languages as Samoan and Cherokee (but the author Tiana Bighorse is a Navajo).

Tianjin

Origin

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 天津 (Tiānjīn, literally “heavenly ford; heavenly crossing”).

tiara

Latin

Borrowed from Latin tiara, from Greek tiara, of uncertain ultimate origin.

tib

Origin

Unknown; perhaps from a pet form of Isabel.

Tibbs

Origin

From a Middle English diminutive of the given names Theobald and Isabel.

Tiber

Latin

From Latin Tiberis.

Tiberius

Latin

From Latin Tiberius, literally 'Of the Tiber', from Tiberis, the river Tiber. Also note Faliscan equivalent *Tiferios. The name is mistaken by some to be of Etruscan origin but note the borrowed variants, Thefarie (from Faliscan) and Teperi (from Latin).

Tibet

Origin

Of uncertain origin, possibly from an Old Turkic word meaning "hilly, mountainous place."

Tibetan

Origin

From Tibet + the adjective ending -an.

tibia

Latin

Borrowed directly from Latin tibia, "shin bone."

tic

French

Borrowed from French tic.

tick

Old English

From Old English ticia, "parasitic insect," related to Dutch teek and German Zecke.

ticker

Origin

From tick + -er, originally referring to a device (like an old stock-price machine) that made a ticking sound.

ticket

Old French

From an old French word related to "stick" or "attach" — tickets were originally small notices affixed to something. It shares this root with "etiquette."

ticking

Origin

From tick ("mattress cover") + -ing, or from the verb tick ("to make a clicking sound") + -ing.

tickle

Middle English

From Middle English tiklen, of uncertain origin — possibly linked to "tick" (a light touch) plus the frequentative ending "-le", meaning "to touch lightly again and again."

ticklish

Origin

From "tickle" plus the adjective-forming suffix "-ish."

Tico

Spanish

From Costa Ricans' habit of adding the diminutive ending "-tico" to words far more than other Spanish speakers do (so "un poquito" becomes "un poquitico") — the nickname stuck to the people themselves.

tidal

Origin

From "tide" plus the adjective-forming suffix "-al."

tidbit

Origin

From an older English word "tid" meaning fond or delicate, combined with "bit," a small piece.

tidder

Origin

From Middle English tidren, from Old English tīdrian, tȳdrian (“to become weak or infirm; be frail”), from Proto-Germanic *tūdrijaną (“to become brittle or weak; exhaust”), from Proto-Germanic *tūdrijaz (“brittle; weak; exhausted”), equivalent to Old English tid + -er. Related to Old English tiddre, tyddre, tēdre, tīdre, tȳdre (“weak; fragile”), West Frisian tear (“tender; gentle”), Dutch teder (“tender; fond; gentle; loving”), German Low German teder (“fine; delicate; sensitive; tender; weak”).

tiddle

Origin

From a variant of tidder. See tid.

tide

Old English

From Old English tīd, originally meaning "time," related to German Zeit and Dutch tijd. The sea sense developed because tides come and go at fixed, predictable times.

tidely

Origin

From Middle English tidely, tydely, tidliche, from Old English tīdlīċe (“for a time; temporarily; conveniently; seasonably; in time; early; soon; quickly”), equivalent to tide + -ly. Cognate with Saterland Frisian tiedelk, Dutch tijdelijk, German Low German tiedelk, German zeitlich, Danish tidlig, Icelandic tíðlegur.

tidy

Middle English

From Middle English tidy, originally meaning "timely" or "seasonable," from "tide" (time) plus "-y." The meaning shifted over centuries from "in good time" to "neat and orderly."

tie

Old English

From Old English tēag, meaning "cord" or "chain," going back to a Proto-Germanic root for binding things together.

tiebreaker

Origin

From tie + breaker.

Tien

Origin

Borrowed from Mandarin 田 (tián).

tier

Origin

From "tie" plus "-er," originally describing a row of things tied or fastened together.

tierce

Origin

From Old French tierce, from Latin tertia.

Tierney

Irish

Anglicized from Irish Gaelic Ó Tiarnaigh "descendant of Tiarnach", a diminutive of tiarna (“lord, master”).

tiff

Origin

Origin unclear, possibly imitating the sound of a small huff or puff of irritation.

Tiffany

Old French

From Old French Tifinie/Tiphanie, ultimately from Greek theophania ("appearance of god," the root of "Epiphany") — the fabric name and the girl's name Tiffany share this same origin, since children born around the feast of Epiphany were often given the name.

tiffin

Old English

From an old English word "tiffing," meaning taking a small drink or snack, used in British colonial India for the midday meal.

tift

Origin

Compare Norwegian teft (“a scent”). See tiff (“noun”).

tig

Origin

A regional variant of "tick," referring to a light touch, related to the game of tag.

tiger

Latin

From Old English tigras and Old French tigre, both from Latin tigris, ultimately from Greek and an Iranian source related to a word for "arrow" — likely a reference to the animal's speed.

Tigger

Origin

From Tigger, the bouncy tiger character created by A. A. Milne in the Winnie-the-Pooh stories.

tight

Old English

From Old English *þīht, related to a Proto-Germanic word meaning "dense" or "thick." The modern spelling with "t-" was later influenced by the unrelated verb "tighten."

tightass

Origin

Back-formation from tight-assed; equivalent to tight + ass.

tighten

Old English

From "tight" plus the verb-forming suffix "-en," though the word actually developed independently from an Old English verb related to pulling or drawing.

tightfistedness

Origin

From tightfisted + -ness.

tightly

Origin

From "tight" plus the adverb-forming suffix "-ly."

tightness

Origin

From "tight" plus the noun-forming suffix "-ness."

tightrope

Origin

A combination of "tight" and "rope," describing a rope pulled taut for balancing acts.