"T" Word Origins

takin

Origin

Borrowed from a Tibeto-Burman language of the region where the animal lives.

taking

Origin

From take plus the suffix -ing.

takkie

Origin

From Afrikaans tekkie (“athletic shoe”).

Taku

Origin

From Tlingit Tʼaaḵu.

Tal

Hebrew

From Hebrew טַל (tal), meaning "dew."

Talbot

Old French

From Old French talebot, originally a nickname for bandits who blackened their faces to avoid recognition; later applied to the hound breed and adopted as a surname.

talc

Origin

From Middle French talc, from Arabic طَلْق (ṭalq), from Persian تلک (talk), from Middle Persian [Term?] (“medicament”).

talcum

Medieval Latin

From Medieval Latin talcum, ultimately from Arabic ṭalq, the same root as the mineral "talc."

tale

Old English

From Old English talu, meaning "story, series, or reckoning," related to "tell" and "talk."

talebearer

Origin

From Middle English taleberer; equivalent to tale + bearer.

talent

Latin

From Latin talentum, originally a unit of weight and money in ancient Greece; the modern sense of "natural ability" grew out of the biblical Parable of the Talents, where the word meant a sum of money entrusted to servants.

talented

Origin

From talent plus the adjective suffix -ed.

talentless

Origin

From talent plus the suffix -less, meaning "without."

tales

Latin

From Latin talis, meaning "such persons," used in legal Latin for jurors called to fill vacancies.

taleteller

Origin

From Middle English taleteller, tale tellere; equivalent to tale + teller.

tali

Origin

Of Dravidian origin, related to Tamil and Telugu words for the wedding cord.

Taliban

Arabic

From Pashto tālibān, meaning "students," the plural of tālib ("seeker" or "student"), itself from Arabic.

talisman

French

From French talisman, ultimately from Greek telesma, meaning "religious rite" or "completion" — the idea of an object charged with ritual power.

talk

Middle English

From Middle English talken, related to "tale" and "tell," and ultimately traced back to a root meaning "to count or recount."

talkative

Middle English

From Middle English talkatyve, formed from talk plus the adjective suffix -ative.

talker

Origin

From talk plus the agent suffix -er.

talkie

Origin

A shortening of "talking picture," formed on the model of "movie."

talking

Origin

From talk plus the suffix -ing.

talky

Origin

From talk plus the adjective suffix -y.

tall

Middle English

From Middle English tall, originally meaning "seemly, handsome, or bold" rather than referring to height; the height-related meaning developed later, in an unusual shift for an adjective.

Tallahassee

Origin

From the Creek (Muscogee) words for "old town."

Tallinn

Origin

From Estonian, likely combining an old word for "Denmark" with linn, meaning "town" or originally "castle."

tallow

Origin

From Middle English talow, talgh, from Old English *tealh, *tealg, (compare Old English tælg, telg (“dye”)), from Proto-West Germanic *talg, from Proto-Germanic *talgaz (compare Dutch talg, German Talg), from Proto-Indo-European *del- (“to flow”) (compare Middle Irish delt (“dew”), Old Armenian տեղ (teł, “heavy rain”)).

Tallulah

Origin

Borrowed from Cherokee, originally the name of a river in Georgia.

tally

Origin

A shortened form of "tallyho," though the counting sense comes from an older tradition of recording numbers with notches on a stick.

tallyman

Origin

From tally + -man.

Talmud

Hebrew

From Hebrew talmúd, meaning "instruction" or "learning."

talon

Latin

From Old French talon, meaning "heel" or "spur," ultimately from Latin talus, meaning "ankle."

talus

Origin

Borrowed from French talus.

tam

Origin

A diminutive of longer given names such as Tamara or Tamsin.

tama

Greek

Etymology tree Greek τάμα (táma)bor. English tama Borrowed from Greek τάμα (táma).

Tamaki

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese 玉城 (Tamaki), 玉木 (Tamaki) or たまき (Tamaki).

tamale

Spanish

A back-formation from the Spanish plural tamales, from Nahuatl tamalli, meaning "wrapped."

Tamar

Hebrew

From Hebrew tamár, meaning "date palm" or "date."

Tamara

Hebrew · 1100

Of Slavic origin, mainly from Russian Тама́ра (Tamára), name of a 12th-century saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, cognate with English biblical Tamar, from Hebrew תמר (tāmār, “date palm”).

tamarind

Medieval Latin

From Arabic tamr hindiyy, literally "Indian date," passed through Medieval Latin and Old French into English.

Tamayo

Spanish

Borrowed from Spanish Tamayo, from Basque.

también

Spanish

A contraction of the Spanish phrase tan bien, literally 'so well'.

tambourine

French

From French tambourin ("little drum"), from tambour ("drum"), which traces back to Arabic and Persian words for a drum.

tame

Old English

From Old English tam ("domesticated"), from a Germanic root meaning "brought into the home."

tamer

Origin

From tame + the agent suffix -er.

tamerlane

Origin

From Persian تیمور لنگ (teymur-(e) lang, literally “Timur the Lame”). Ultimately from Proto-Turkic *temür (“iron”). See Turkish demir for more information.

Tami

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese たみ (Tami).