"T" Word Origins

teenie

Origin

A playful shortening of "sixteenth" with the diminutive ending "-ie" tacked on.

teens

Origin

From the final syllable shared by the numbers thirteen through nineteen.

teensy

Origin

A playful alteration of "teeny", itself based on "tiny".

teeny

Origin · 1825

An alteration of "tiny", first recorded around 1825, often used in a playful or childlike way.

teepee

Origin

From the Lakota word thipi, combining thi ("to dwell") with a plural ending, together meaning roughly "they dwell" or simply "house".

Tees

Old English

From Old English Tese, of uncertain origin, possibly linked to a Brythonic word for "heat", referencing the river's churning waters.

teeter

Origin

Alteration of titter.

teeterboard

Origin

From teeter + board.

teeth

Old English

From Old English teth, the plural of tooth, tracing back to Proto-Germanic and ultimately Proto-Indo-European roots.

teething

Origin

From the verb "teethe" plus "-ing".

teetotal

Origin

From total, the reduplicated tee acts as an intensifier, hence T-total. First use appears in 1834.

teetotaler

English

From total, with the initial t reduplicated for emphasis (tee-total), a formation that arose in the temperance movement of the early 19th century.

teetotaller

Origin

From teetotal + -er.

teetotum

Origin

From Latin totum (“all”), marked by a T on one of the four sides.

Teflon

Origin · 1940

A 1940s trade name built from parts of "tetrafluoroethylene", modelled after other material names like nylon.

Tegan

Welsh · 1900

The female name comes from a 20th-century Welsh coinage meaning "darling"; the male name derives from the Irish name Tadhg via Teagan.

Tehran

Persian

A transliteration of the Persian name tehran, from Classical Persian tahran.

tej

Origin

Borrowed from Amharic taj, meaning "honey wine, mead".

tekkers

Origin

Clipping of technique + -ers.

telco

Origin

Diachronically, from tel + Co., from the collocation of Tel. Co. as seen, for example, in Bell Tel. Co. or the names of countless local telephone exchange companies (e.g., Savannah Valley Tel. Co., Mutual Tel. Co., Tarrytown Tel. Co.), by abbreviation in the late 19th through mid-20th centuries; synchronically also a clipped compound as tel(ephone) + co(mpany).

tele

Origin

A shortening of "Telecaster".

telecast

Origin

Formed from "tele-" plus "-cast", modelled on "broadcast".

telecom

Origin

A clipping of "telecommunications".

telecopy

Origin

From tele- + copy.

telegram

Origin

Formed from "tele-" plus "-gram" ("something written").

telegraph

French

Borrowed from French telegraphe, from "tele-" ("far") plus "-graph" ("writing"), coined as a name for Claude Chappe's semaphore network.

teleiophile

Origin

From teleio- + -phile.

telekinesis

Origin

Formed from "tele-" ("distant") plus "-kinesis" ("movement").

telekinetic

Latin

From "tele-" plus "kinetic" ("relating to motion").

telemetry

Origin

From "tele-" ("distant") plus "-metry" ("measurement").

telenovela

Spanish

Borrowed directly from Spanish telenovela.

telepath

Origin

A back-formation from telepathy — the noun came first, and "telepath" was invented later as a shorter word for the person who has the ability.

telepathic

Origin

Built from telepathy plus the adjective ending -ic.

telepathically

Origin

Formed from telepathic plus the adverb ending -ally.

telepathy

Origin

Built from tele- ("distant") and -pathy ("feeling"), literally "feeling at a distance."

telephone

German · 1876

Built from tele- ("far off") and -phone ("sound"), modelled on the German word Telephon. The device itself was popularised from 1876 by Alexander Graham Bell.

telephoto

Origin

Formed from tele- ("far") and photo ("light/photograph").

teleplay

Origin

Blend of television + screenplay.

teleport

Origin

A back-formation from teleportation — shortened once the longer word was already established.

teleportation

Origin · 1931

Coined by writer Charles Fort in his 1931 book Lo!, blending tele- with transportation.

teleporter

Origin

Formed from teleport plus the agent ending -er.

teleprompter

Origin

From tele- and prompter; originally a trademarked name, TelePrompTer, that became a generic term for the device.

telescope

Latin · 1611

From tele- ("far") and -scope ("to look at"), via Latin tēlescopium and Greek τηλεσκόπος. The word was coined in 1611 for one of Galileo's instruments.

telethon

Origin

A blend of telephone and marathon.

teletransport

Origin

From tele- + transport.

teletype

Origin

From tele- ("far, telegraph") and type; largely comes from the brand name of the Teletype Corporation's machines.

television

Origin · 1900

From tele- ("far") and vision, first recorded around 1900, likely influenced by a paper on the concept by Constantin Perskyi presented in Paris that same year.

telex

Origin

A blend of tele- (as in teleprinter) and exchange, originally a trademarked service name.