Online Etymology Dictionary

tour (v.): 1746, from tour (n.). Related: Toured; touring.
tour de force: 1802, French, "feat of strength."
tourism: 1811, from tour (n.) + -ism.
tourist (n.): 1780, from tour (n.) + -ist; tourist trap attested from 1939, in Graham Greene.
tourmaline: complete silicate of aluminum and boron, 1759, ultimately from Sinhalese toramalli, a general name for cornelian.
tournament (n.): c.1300, "medieval martial arts contest," from Old French torneiement "contest between groups of knights on horseback" (mid-12c.), from torneier "to joust, tilt" (see tourney). Modern use, in reference to games of skill, is recorded from 1761.
tournedos (n.): fillet of steak dish, 1877, from French, from tourner "to turn" (see turn (v.)) + dos "back." According to French etymologists, "so called because the dish is traditionally not placed on the table but is passed behind the backs of the guests" [OED]. But there are other theories.
tourney (v.): c.1300, from Old French tornei (mid-12c.), from torneier "to joust, tilt," literally "turn around," from Vulgar Latin *tornizare, from Latin tornare "to turn" (see turn). The noun also is attested from c.1300.
tourniquet: 1690s, from French tourniquet "surgical tourniquet," also "turnstile," diminutive of torner "to turn," from Old French tourner, torner (see turn).
tousle: "pull roughly, disorder, dishevel," mid-15c., frequentative of -tousen "handle or push about roughly," from Old English *tusian, from Proto-Germanic *tus- (cf. Frisian tusen, Old High German erzusen, German zausen "to tug, pull, dishevel"); related to tease.
Toussaint: French, literally "feast of All Saints" (Nov. 1), from tous, plural of tout "all" + saint "saint."
tout (v.): 1700, thieves' cant, "to act as a lookout, spy on," from Middle English tuten "to peep, peer," probably from a variant of Old English totian "to stick out, peep, peer," from Proto-Germanic *tut- "project" (cf. Dutch tuit "sprout, snout," Middle Dutch tute "nipple, pap," Middle Low German tute "horn, funnel," Old Norse tota "teat, toe of a shoe"). The sense developed to "look out for jobs, votes, etc., to try to get them" (1731), then "praise highly" (1920). Related: Touted; touting.
tow (v.): "pull with a rope," Old English togian "to drag, pull," from Proto-Germanic *tugojanan (cf. Old English teon "to draw," Old Frisian togia "to pull about," Old Norse toga, Old High German zogon, German ziehen "to draw, pull, drag"), from PIE root *deuk- "to pull, draw" (cf. Latin ducere "to lead;" see duke (n.)). Related: Towed; towing. The noun meaning "act or fact of being towed" is recorded from 1620s. Towaway, in reference to parking zones, is recorded from 1956.
tow (n.): "coarse, broken fibers of flax, hemp, etc.," late 14c., probably from Old English tow- "spinning" (in towlic "fit for spinning"), perhaps cognate with Gothic taujan "to do, make," Middle Dutch touwen "to knit, weave."
toward: Old English toweard "in the direction of," prepositional use of toweard (adj.) "coming, approaching," from to (see to) + -weard, from Proto-Germanic *-warth, from PIE *wert "turn" (see -ward). Towards with adverbial genitive ending, was in Old English as toweards.
towel (n.): late 13c., from Old French toaille (12c.), from Frankish *thwahlja, from Proto-Germanic *thwakhlijon (cf. Old Saxon thwahila, Middle Dutch dwale "towel," Dutch dwaal "altar cloth," Old High German dwehila "towel," German dialectal Zwehle "napkin"); related to German zwagen, Old English þwean "to wash." Spanish toalla, Italian tovaglia are Germanic loan-words.
towel (v.): 1836, from towel (n.). Related: Towelled; towelling.
towelette (n.): 1902, from towel (n.) + -ette.
tower (v.): c.1400; see tower (n.). Related: Towered; towering.
tower (n.): Old English torr, from Latin turris "high structure" (cf. Old French tor, 11c.; Spanish, Italian torre "tower"), possibly from a pre-Indo-European Mediterranean language. Also borrowed separately 13c. as tour, from Old French tur. The modern spelling first recorded in 1520s. Meaning "lofty pile or mass" is recorded from mid-14c.
towhead (n.): also tow-head, in reference to tousled blond hair, 1830, from tow (n.) + head (n.). Related: Towheaded.
town (n.): Old English tun "enclosure, garden, field, yard; farm, manor; homestead, dwelling house, mansion;" later "group of houses, village, farm," from Proto-Germanic *tunaz, *tunan (cf. Old Saxon, Old Norse, Old Frisian tun "fence, hedge," Middle Dutch tuun "fence," Dutch tuin "garden," Old High German zun, German Zaun "fence, hedge"), an early borrowing from Celtic *dunom (cf. Old Irish dun, Welsh din "fortress, fortified place, camp," dinas "city;" see down (n.2)).

Meaning "inhabited place larger than a village" (mid-12c.) arose after the Norman conquest, to correspond to French ville. The modern word is partially a generic term, applicable to cities of great size as well as places intermediate between a city and a village; such use is unusual, the only parallel is perhaps Latin oppidium, which occasionally was applied to Rome or Athens (each of which was more properly an urbs).

First record of town hall is from late 15c. Townie "townsman, one raised in a town" is recorded from 1827, often opposed to the university students or circus workers who were just passing through. Town ball, version of baseball, is recorded from 1852. Town car (1907) originally was a motor car with an enclosed passenger compartment and open driver's seat. On the town "living the high life" is from 1712. Go to town "do (something) energetically" is first recorded 1933. Man about town "one constantly seen at public and private functions" is attested from 1734.
townhouse (n.): 1825, "residence in a town," from town + house (n.). As a type of suburban attached housing, c.1968, American English.
township (n.): Old English tunscipe "inhabitants or population of a town." Applied in Middle English to "manor, parish, or other division of a hundred." Specific sense of "local division or district in a parish, each with a village or small town and its own church" is from 1530s; as a local municipal division of a county in U.S. and Canada, first recorded 1685.
toxemia (n.): also toxaemia, 1860, from toxo- (before vowels tox-, comb. form of Greek toxon (see toxic) + Greek haima "blood" (see -emia).
toxic (adj.): 1660s, from French toxique, from Late Latin toxicus "poisoned," from Latin toxicum "poison," from Greek toxikon (pharmakon) "(poison) for use on arrows," from toxikon, neuter of toxikos "pertaining to arrows or archery," and thus to a bow, from toxon "bow," probably from a Scythian word that also was borrowed into Latin as taxus "yew."
toxicity: 1881, from toxic + -ity.
toxicology: 1839, from French toxicologie (1812), from comb. form of Greek toxikon "arrow poison" (see toxic) + -logia (see -logy).
toxin (n.): "organic poison," especially one produced by bacteria in an animal body, 1886, from toxic + -in (2).
toxoplasmosis: 1977, from toxoplasma (1926), coined 1909 in French from toxo-, comb. form of Greek toxon (see toxic) + plasma (see plasma).
toy (n.): c.1300, "amorous playing, sport," later "piece of fun or entertainment" (c.1500), "thing of little value, trifle" (1520s), and "thing for a child to play with" (1580s). Of uncertain origin, and there may be more than one word here. Cf. Middle Dutch toy, Dutch tuig "tools, apparatus, stuff, trash," in speeltuig "play-toy, plaything;" German Zeug "stuff, matter, tools," Spielzeug "plaything, toy;" Danish tøi, Swedish tyg "stuff, gear."
toy (v.): 1520s, from toy (n.).
If he be merie and toy with any,
His wife will frowne, and words geve manye.
["Song of the Bachelor's Life," 16c.]
Related: Toyed; toying.
Toyota: Japanese automaker, begun 1930s as a division of Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, named for the family name of the founder. There seems to be no one accepted explanation for the change from -d- to -t-.
trace (v.): late 14c., "to make a plan or diagram," from Old French trasser "delineate, score, trace, follow, pursue" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *tractiare "delineate, score, trace" (cf. Spanish trazar "to trace, devise, plan out," Italian tracciare "to follow by foot"), from Latin tractus "track, course," literally "a drawing out," from past participle stem of trahere "to pull, draw" (see tract (n.1)).

Meaning "to pass over" (a path, etc.) is attested from late 14c.; that of "track down, follow the trail of" is early 15c., from trace (n.1). Sense of "draw an outline of" is first recorded late 14c. Meaning "copy a drawing on a transparent sheet laid over it" is recorded from 1762. Related: Traced; tracing.
trace (n.1): "track made by passage of a person or thing," mid-13c., from Old French trace, back-formation from tracier (see trace (v.)). Scientific sense of "indication of minute presence in some chemical compound" is from 1827. Traces "vestiges" is from c.1400.
trace (n.2): "straps or chains by which an animal pulls a vehicle," c.1300, from earlier collective plural trays, from Old French traiz, plural of trait "strap for harnessing, act of drawing," from Latin tractus "a drawing, track," from stem of trahere "to pull, draw" (see tract (1)).
traceable (adj.): 1748, from trace (v.) + -able. Related: Traceability.
tracer (n.): c.1500, "one who tracks or searches," agent noun from verb form of trace (n.1). Meaning "bullet whose course is made visible" is from 1910.
tracery (n.): mid-15c., "a place for drawing," formed in English from trace (v.) + -ery. Architectural sense, in reference to intersecting rib work in the upper part of a gothic window, is attested from 1660s. "Introduced by Wren, who described it as a masons' term," according to Weekley.
trachea (n.): c.1400, from Medieval Latin trachea (mid-13c.), as in trachea arteria, from Late Latin trachia (c.400), from Greek trakheia, in trakheia arteria "windpipe," literally "rough artery" (so called from the rings of cartilage that form the trachea), from fem. of trakhys "rough." See artery for connection with windpipe in Greek science.
tracheostomy (n.): 1726, from comb. form of trachea + -ostomy "artificial opening," from Modern Latin stoma "opening, orifice," from Greek stoma "mouth" (see stoma).
tracheotomy (n.): 1726, Modern Latin, coined 1718 by German surgeon Lorenz Heister (1683-1758); see trachea + -tomy.
trachoma (n.): 1690s, from Modern Latin trachoma, from Greek trakhoma "roughness," from trakhys "rough."
track (n.): late 15c., "footprint, mark left by anything," from Old French trac "track of horses, trace" (mid-15c.), possibly from a Germanic source (cf. Middle Low German treck, Dutch trek "drawing, pulling;" see trek). Meaning "lines of rails for drawing trains" is from 1805. Meaning "branch of athletics involving a running track" is recorded from 1905. Meaning "single recorded item" is from 1904, originally in reference to phonograph records. Meaning "mark on skin from repeated drug injection" is first attested 1964.

Track record (1955) is a figurative use from racing, "performance history" of an individual car, runner, horse, etc.(1907, but the phrase was more common in sense "fastest speed recorded at a particular track"). To make tracks "move quickly" is American English colloquial first recorded 1835; to cover (one's) tracks in the figurative sense first attested 1898; to keep track of something is attested from 1883. American English wrong side of the tracks "bad part of town" is by 1901. Track lighting attested from 1970.
track (v.): "to follow or trace the footsteps of," 1560s, from track (n.). Related: Tracked; tracking.
tract (n.1): "area," late 15c., "period or lapse of time," from Latin tractus "track, course, space, duration," lit, "a drawing out or pulling," from stem of trahere "to pull, draw," from PIE root *tragh- "to draw, drag, move" (cf. Slovenian trag "trace, track," Middle Irish tragud "ebb," perhaps with a variant form *dhragh-; see drag (v.)). The meaning "stretch of land or water" is first recorded 1550s. Specific U.S. sense of "plot of land for development" is recorded from 1912; tract houses attested from 1963.
tract (n.2): "little book, treatise" mid-12c., probably a shortened form of Latin tractatus "a handling, treatise, treatment," from tractare "to handle" (see treat). Not in any other language, according to OED.
tractable (adj.): "manageable," early 15c., from Latin tractabilis "that may be touched, handled, or managed," from tractare "to handle, manage" (see treat). Related: Tractability.
traction (n.): early 15c., "a drawing or pulling" (originally the pulling of a dislocated limb to reposition it), from Medieval Latin tractionem (nominative tractio) "a drawing" (mid-13c.), noun of action from past participle stem of Latin trahere "to pull, draw" (see tract (n.1)). Sense of "rolling friction of a vehicle" first appears 1825.
tractor (n.): 1856, "something that pulls," earlier used of a quack device consisting of two metal rods which were supposed to relieve rheumatism (1798, in full Perkins's metallic tractor), from Medieval Latin tractor, from stem of Latin trahere "to pull, draw" (see tract (n.1)).

Sense of "an engine or vehicle for pulling wagons or plows" is recorded by 1896, from earlier traction engine (1859). The meaning "powerful truck for pulling a freight trailer" is first found 1926; tractor-trailer is attested from 1949.