"T" Word Origins

tearaway

Origin

From tear + away.

teardown

Origin

Deverbal from tear down.

teardrop

Origin

A compound of tear (the eye-fluid sense) and drop.

teare

Origin

Reduced form of McIntyre.

tearful

Origin

From tear (the eye-fluid word) plus the suffix "-ful."

tearfully

Origin

From tearful plus the adverb suffix "-ly."

tearoom

Origin

From tea + room. In reference to a lavatory, probably as a variant of t-room (“toilet room”).

teary

Middle English

From Middle English tery, built from tear plus "-y."

tease

Old English

From Old English tæsan, originally meaning to pull apart or comb out fibres (like wool) — the modern sense of playful provocation developed centuries later, by extension from "picking at" someone.

teaser

Origin · 1900

From tease plus the agent suffix "-er," originally someone or something that teases; the "preview trailer" sense developed in 20th-century advertising and film marketing.

teasing

Origin

From tease plus "-ing."

teaspoon

Origin

A compound of tea and spoon, named for its original use stirring tea.

teaspoonful

Origin

From teaspoon + -ful.

teat

Old French

From Old French tete, ultimately from a very old Germanic root of imitative origin also behind the (now more vulgar) word "tit."

teatime

Origin

A compound of tea and time.

tebbs

Origin

Variant of Tibbs.

tech

Origin

A clipped form of "technology," "technician," or "technique."

techie

Origin

From tech + -ie (q.v.). Compare techy and yuppie.

technic

Origin

Partly from Latin technicus and partly from Ancient Greek τεχνικός (tekhnikós); probably modelled on German Technik. Doublet of technique.

technical

Ancient Greek

From Late Latin technicus, based on the Ancient Greek word tekhnikos, meaning "skilful," from tekhne, "skill" or "craft."

technicality

Origin

From technical plus the noun suffix "-ity."

technically

Origin

From technical plus the adverb suffix "-ly."

technician

Latin

Built from "technic" (relating to a craft or skill) plus the suffix "-ian," which denotes a person who practises something.

Technicolor

Origin · 1916

A blend of "technology" and "color", originally a 1916 trademark tied to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where two of the process's inventors met.

technicolored

Origin

From the trademark Technicolor for a series of color film processes pioneered by Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation; + -ed.

technicoloured

Origin

From technicolored, with the spelling revised to accord with British English coloured.

technique

French

From French technique, itself from Greek tekhnikos ("of art or craft"), related to tekhne ("skill, craft").

techno

Origin

Shortened from "technology".

technocratic

Origin

From techno- + -cratic.

technological

Origin

From "technology" plus the adjective ending "-ical".

technologically

Origin

From "technological" plus the adverb ending "-ly".

technology

Greek

A learned borrowing from Greek tekhnologia ("systematic treatment of an art"), from tekhne ("craft") plus -logia ("study of").

technophile

Origin

From techno- + -phile.

technophobe

Origin

From techno- + -phobe.

technoself

Origin

From techno- + self.

TechWhack

English · 2004

A compound of "tech," the informal short form of technology, and "whack," meaning to hit something hard and sharply. Coined as a website name; in use since 2004.

tectonic

Greek · 1890

From Greek tektonikos ("pertaining to building"), from tekton ("builder, carpenter"). Its geological sense dates from the 1890s.

tectonics

Origin

Ancient Greek τέκτων (téktōn, “builder”).

Tecumseh

Origin

Borrowed from the Shawnee name Tekamthi.

Ted

Origin

A shortened form of Edward, Theodore, Thaddeus, or Edmund.

teddy

Origin

The undergarment may be named after an American designer, Theodore Baer.

tedious

Latin

From Latin taedium ("weariness") via Old French tedieus.

tedium

Origin

From Latin taedium, from taedēre (“to weary”).

tee

Latin

The golf sense comes from Middle English, ultimately from the Latin name of the letter T. The computing sense comes from the T-shaped pipe fitting that splits flow in two directions.

teem

Origin

From Middle English temen (“to bear, to support”), from Anglian Old English tēman (“to give birth”) (West Saxon Old English tīeman), from Proto-West Germanic *taumijan (“to bridle”), from Proto-Germanic *taumijaną, from *taumaz ("bridle", continued in Modern English as team).

teen

Origin

A clipping of "teenager".

teenage

Origin · 1921

Formed from "-teen" plus "age"; first recorded around 1921.

teenager

Origin

Formed from "teenage" plus the agent suffix "-er".