"T" Word Origins

tubman

Origin

From tub + -man.

tubocurarine

Origin

From Latin tubus (“tube”) + curare + -ine.

tuboid

Origin

From tube + -oid.

tubular

Latin · 1980

From Latin tubulus ("small tube") plus -ar. The slang sense meaning "awesome" comes from surfing culture, describing the hollow, tube-like curl of a great wave — and became a catchphrase of 1980s surfer and valley-girl slang.

Tucci

Italian

Borrowed from Italian Tucci.

tuck

Old English

From Old English tūcian ("to torment, harass"), which softened over time into the modern sense of pulling or folding cloth neatly into place.

tucker

Origin

From tuck + -er. The Australian sense meaning "food" likely developed from the idea of "tucking in" to a meal.

tucket

Origin

From tuck (“a blow, a drum beat”), from Old French touchet (“stroke, blow”). Compare toccata. Compare also Middle French toquer from Old French *toquer (“to strike”).

tuco

Spanish

Borrowed from Spanish tuco, a term used in South American — especially Argentine and Uruguayan — cooking.

Tucson

Spanish

From the O'odham phrase Cuk Ṣon, meaning roughly "at the base of the black mountain," referring to the dark volcanic peak overlooking the city — passed into English via Mexican Spanish "Tucsón."

Tudor

Welsh

From the Welsh surname Tudur, which became the family name of the English royal dynasty descended from Owen Tudor, a Welsh courtier who married the widow of Henry V.

Tuesday

Latin

From Old English tīwesdæġ, "Tiw's day" — named after Tiw, the Germanic god of war, in a translation of the Latin "day of Mars."

Tuesdays

Origin

Formed by adding the adverbial -s to Tuesday, the same pattern seen in "Sundays" or "weekdays."

tufa

Origin

From Italian tufo, from Latin tōfus or tōphus. Doublet of tuff.

tuff

Latin

From French tuf, from Italian tufo, from Latin tofus — a doublet of the related geology term "tufa."

tuft

Latin

From Old French touffe ("tuft"), related to Old English þūf, going back to a Germanic root also connected to Latin tūber ("lump, swelling").

tug

Old English

From Old English togian ("to drag, draw"), related to "tow" and going back to an ancient root meaning "to pull."

tugboat

Origin

A compound of tug + boat, describing a small vessel built to tug — that is, tow — much larger ones.

tuggy

Origin

From tug + -y.

tui

Origin

Borrowed directly from Māori tūī, the bird's original name.

tuition

Latin

From Latin tuitiō ("protection, guardianship"), from tuērī ("to watch over"); the meaning narrowed over time from general "care" to specifically the care and instruction given by a teacher.

Tula

Spanish

From Spanish Tula, from Classical Nahuatl Tōllān (“place of bulrushes”), from tōllin (“bulrush”) + -tlān.

tulip

French

From French tulipe, ultimately from Ottoman Turkish tülbent ("turban cloth"), because the shape of the flower reminded early European observers of a wound turban — making it a distant relative of the English word "turban."

tulipwood

Origin

From tulip + wood.

tulle

French

Named after the French town of Tulle, where the fabric was originally made.

Tully

Origin

* A shortened Anglicization of Scottish Gaelic Ó Taithligh and Ó Maol Tuile. * A variant of Tolley and Tullie.

tulpa

Origin

Borrowed from Tibetan སྤྲུལ་པ (sprul pa, “emanation, magical creation”), equivalent to a calque of Sanskrit निर्मित (nirmita, “build”) or निर्माण (nirmāṇa, “build”).

Tulsa

Origin

From Creek Tallasi (literally “old town”). Compare Tallahassee, from the same or a similar term.

tulsi

Sanskrit

Borrowed into English from Hindi, which took it from the Sanskrit word for the same plant.

tumble

Old English

From Old English tumbian ("to fall, dance"), related to German taumeln ("to stagger") — describing the uncontrolled, rolling nature of the fall.

tumbler

Origin

From tumble + -er. The drinking-glass sense comes from early versions of the glass having a rounded or pointed base, so it would "tumble" over if set down before being emptied — forcing the drinker to finish it in one go.

tumbleweed

Origin

A compound of tumble + weed, describing how the dried, ball-shaped plant tumbles across open ground driven by the wind.

tumbril

Origin

From Old French tumberel (modern French tombereau, in Anglo-Latin tumberellus), from tomber, tumber (“to fall”).

tumescence

Origin

First attested 1725, from French tumescence, from Latin tumescēns (“swelling”), present participle of tumēscō (“to begin to swell”), from tumeō (“to swell”) + -ēscō (incohative suffix) (English -esce, in this form -escence), stem from Proto-Indo-European *tum-éh₁- (“to be swelling”), stative stem of *tum- (“to swell”).

tummy

Origin

A childlike softening of "stomach," via the older colloquial form "stummy" — the same kind of playful shortening seen in words like "pasghetti" for spaghetti.

tumor

Latin

From Latin tumor ("a swelling"), from tumēre ("to swell") — a distant relative of the English word "thumb."

tumour

Latin

From Latin tumor ("a swelling"), from tumēre ("to swell") — a distant relative of the English word "thumb."

tumult

Latin

From Old French tumulte, from Latin tumultus, meaning "commotion" or "uproar."

tumultuary

Origin

Latin tumultuārius: compare French tumultuaire.

tumultuous

Latin

From Latin tumultuosus, "restless" or "turbulent," built on tumultus, the same root behind "tumult."

tumulus

Origin

From Latin tumulus (“mound, hill”), from tumeō (“to swell”). Doublet of tombolo.

tun

Old English

From Old English tunne, "cask" or "barrel," a word shared across many Germanic languages.

tuna

Latin

Borrowed from American Spanish tuna, an alteration of Spanish atún, ultimately from Arabic at-tunn, from Latin thunnus and Greek thynnos.

tundish

Origin

From tun + dish.

tune

Latin

From Middle English tune, a variant of "tone," ultimately from Latin tonus and Greek tonos.

tuneful

Origin

From tune + -ful.

tuner

Origin

From "tune" plus the agent suffix "-er," meaning one who or that which tunes.

tung

Chinese

Borrowed from the Chinese word for the tree.