Online Etymology Dictionary

task force (n.): 1941, originally military; see task (n.) + force (n.).
taskmaster (n.): 1520s, from task (n.) + master (n.).
Tasmanian devil (n.): so called since at least 1829, from its propensity for killing young lambs (other voracious fish or animals also have been named devil).
Tass (n.): official news agency of the former U.S.S.R., an acronym of Russian Telegrafnoje Agenstvo Sovjetskeho Sojuza "Telegraphic Agency of the Soviet Union."
tassel (n.): c.1300, "mantle fastener," from Old French tassel "a fastening, clasp" (mid-12c.), from Vulgar Latin *tassellus, said to be from Latin taxillus "small die or cube," a diminutive of talus "knucklebone, ankle" (see talus (n.1)). But OED finds this doubtful and calls attention to the variant form tossel and suggests association with toss (v.). Meaning "hanging bunch of small cords" is first recorded late 14c.
taste (v.): late 13c., "to touch, to handle," from Old French taster "to taste" (13c.), earlier "to feel, touch" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *tastare, apparently an alteration of taxtare, a frequentative form of Latin taxare "evaluate, handle" (see tax). Meaning "to take a little food or drink" is from c.1300; that of "to perceive by sense of taste" is recorded from mid-14c. Of substances, "to have a certain taste or flavor," it is attested from 1550s (replaced native smack (n.1) in this sense). For another PIE root in this sense, see gusto.
The Hindus recognized six principal varieties of taste with sixty-three possible mixtures ... the Greeks eight .... These included the four that are now regarded as fundamental, namely 'sweet,' 'bitter,' 'acid,' 'salt.' ... The others were 'pungent' (Gk. drimys, Skt. katuka-), 'astringent' (Gk. stryphnos, Skt. kasaya-), and, for the Greeks, 'rough, harsh' (austeros), 'oily, greasy' (liparos), with the occasional addition of 'winy' (oinodes). [Buck]
Taste buds is from 1879; also taste goblets.
taste (n.): c.1300, "act of tasting," from Old French tast (Modern French tât), from taster (see taste (v.)). Meaning "faculty or sense by which flavor of a thing is discerned" is attested from late 14c. Meaning "savor, sapidity, flavor" is from late 14c. Sense of "aesthetic judgment" is first attested 1670s (cf. French goût, German geschmack, Russian vkus, etc.).
Of all the five senses, 'taste' is the one most closely associated with fine discrimination, hence the familiar secondary uses of words for 'taste, good taste' with reference to aesthetic appreciation. [Buck]
tasteful (adj.): 1610s, "having an agreeable taste;" from taste + -ful. From 1756 as "having or showing good taste." Related: Tastefully; tastefulness.
tasteless (adj.): 1590s, "unable to taste;" c.1600, "uninteresting;" 1610s, "insipid;" 1670s, "tactless;" from taste (n.) + -less. Related: Tastelessly; tastelessness.
tasty (adj.): 1610s, from taste (n.) + -y (2); in late 18c. it also could mean "tasteful, elegant" (from the secondary sense of taste (n.)).
tat (v.): 1882, "to do tatting," back-formation from tatting.
tata: also ta-ta, "good-bye," 1823, a word first recorded as infant's speech. Abbreviation T.T.F.N., "ta-ta for now," popularized 1941 by BBC radio program "ITMA," where it was the characteristic parting of the cockney cleaning woman character Mrs. Mopp, voiced by Dorothy Summers.
tatami: 1610s, from Japanese tatami.
Tatar: see Tartar.
tater: 1759, colloquial pronunciation of potato.
tatter (v.): mid-14c., "clad in slashed garments," from Old Norse toturr "rag," cognate with Old English tættec, tætteca "rag, tatter," Low German tater "tatter." The noun is attested from c.1400.
tatterdemalion (n.): "ragged child, person dressed in old clothes," c.1600, probably from tatter, with fantastic second element, but perhaps also suggested by Tartar, with a contemporary sense of "vagabond, gypsy."
tattersall (n.): fabric with small and even check pattern, 1891, so called because it was similar to the traditional design of horse blankets, in reference to Tattersall's, a famous London horse market and gambler's rendezvous, founded 1766 by Richard Tattersall (1724-95). The surname is from the place in Lincolnshire.
tatting (n.): "making of knotted lace," 1832, of uncertain origin. In French, frivolité.
tattle (v.): late 15c., "to stammer, prattle," in Caxton's translation of "Reynard the Fox," probably from Middle Flemish tatelen "to stutter," parallel to Middle Dutch, Middle Low German, East Frisian tateren "to chatter, babble," possibly of imitative origin. The meaning "tell tales or secrets" is first recorded 1580s. Sense influenced by tittle. Related: Tattled; tattling.
tattletale (n.): formed in English 1888 from tattle + tale. Probably patterned on telltale (1540s). A 16c. word for "tattle-tale" was pickthank.
tattoo (v.): "mark the skin with pigment," 1769; see tattoo (n.2). Related: Tattooed; tattooing.
tattoo (n.1): "signal," 1680s, "signal calling soldiers or sailors to quarters at night," earlier tap-to (1644, in order of Col. Hutchinson to garrison of Nottingham), from Dutch taptoe, from tap "faucet of a cask" (see tap (n.1)) + toe "shut." So called because police used to visit taverns in the evening to shut off the taps of casks. Transferred sense of "drumbeat" is recorded from 1755. Hence, Devil's tattoo "action of idly drumming fingers in irritation or impatience" (1803).
tattoo (n.2): "pigment design in skin," 1769 (noun and verb, both first attested in writing of Capt. Cook), from a Polynesian noun (e.g. Tahitian and Samoan tatau, Marquesan tatu "puncture, mark made on skin").
tatty (adj.): 1510s, "tangled or matted" (of hair), Scottish, probably related to Old English tættec "a rag" (see tatter). Sense of "tattered, ragged, shabby" first recorded 1933.
tau: nineteenth letter of the Greek alphabet, from Hebrew taw, last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, literally "sign, mark."
taught: past tense of teach, from Old English tahte (see teach).
taunt (v.): 1510s, possibly from Middle French tanter, tenter "to tempt, try, provoke," variant of tempter "to try" (see tempt). Or from Middle French tant pour tant "so much for so much, tit for tat," on notion of "sarcastic rejoinder." Related: Taunted; taunting.
taunt (n.): 1520s, from taunt (v.).
taupe (n.): 1880s, "a mole," later (1911) "dark brownish-gray color" (the color of moleskin), from French taupe, the color, originally "a mole," from Latin talpa "a mole."
taurine (n.): chemical substance (aminoethyl-sulphonic acid), 1845, from Latin taurus "bull" (see steer (n.)) + chemical suffix -ine (2); obtained by German professor Leopold Gmelin in 1826 and so called because it was first found in ox bile.
Taurus (n.): zodiac constellation, late Old English, from Latin taurus "bull, bullock, steer," from PIE *tauro- "bull" (cf. Greek tauros, Old Church Slavonic turu "bull, steer;" Lithuanian tauras "aurochs;" Old Prussian tauris "bison"); often said to be from PIE *steu-ro- "be big, be strong, be sturdy" (cf. Sanskrit sthura- "thick, compact," Avestan staora- "big cattle," Middle Persian stor "horse, draft animal," Gothic stiur "young bull," Old English steor, see steer (n.)).

Klein proposes a Semitic origin (cf. Aramaic tora "ox, bull, steer," Hebrew shor, Arabic thor, Ethiopian sor). Meaning "person born under the sign of the bull" is recorded from 1901. Hence also tauromachy "bull-fighting," from Greek tauromakhia (see -machy).
What form great Jove would next devise,
And when his godship would again Taurise?
[William Somerville, 1727]
taut (adj.): early 14c., tohte, possibly from tog-, past participle stem of Old English teon "to pull, drag," from Proto-Germanic *tugn, from PIE *deuk- "to lead" (see duke (n.)).
tauten (v.): "to make taut," 1814, from taut + -en (1). Related: Tautened; tautening.
tautog (n.): edible marine fish of the Atlantic coast of North America, 1643, from Narragansett tautauog, plural of taut.
tautology (n.): 1570s, from Late Latin tautologia "representation of the same thing" (c.350), from Greek tautologia, from tautologos "repeating what has been said," from tauto "the same" + -logos "saying," related to legein "to say" (see lecture (n.)).
tavern (n.): late 13c., "wine shop," later "public house" (mid-15c.), from Old French taverne (mid-13c.) "shed made of boards, booth, stall," also "tavern, inn," from Latin taberna "shop, inn, tavern," originally "hut, shed," possibly by dissimilation from *traberna, from trabs (genitive trabis) "beam, timber."
taw (v.): "to prepare" (leather), from Old English tawian "to do, make," from Proto-Germanic *tawojan (cf. Old Frisian tawa, Old Saxon toian, Middle Dutch tauwen, Dutch touwen, Old High German zouwen "to prepare," Old High German zawen "to succeed," Gothic taujan "to make, prepare"), probably related to the root of Old English tol "tool" (see tool).
tawdry (adj.): "cheap, showy, gaudy," 1670s, adjective use of noun tawdry "silk necktie for women" (1610s), shortened from tawdry lace (1540s), an alteration of St. Audrey's lace, a necktie or ribbon sold at the annual fair at Ely on Oct. 17 commemorating St. Audrey (queen of Northumbria, died 679). Her association with cheap lace necklaces is that she supposedly died of a throat tumor, which she considered God's punishment for her youthful fondness for showy necklaces [Bede].
tawny (n.): "tan-colored," late 14c., from Anglo-French tauné "associated with the brownish-yellow of tanned leather," from Old French tané (12c.), past participle of taner "to tan hides," from Medieval Latin tannare (see tan).
tax (v.): c.1300, "impose a tax on," from Old French taxer "impose a tax" (13c.), from Latin taxare "evaluate, estimate, assess, handle," also "censure, charge," probably a frequentative form of tangere "to touch" (see tangent). Sense of "burden, put a strain on" first recorded 1670s; that of "censure, reprove" is from 1560s. Its use in Luke ii for Greek apographein "to enter on a list, enroll" is due to Tyndale. Related: Taxed; taxing.
tax (n.): early 14c., "obligatory contribution levied by a sovereign or government," from Anglo-French tax, Old French taxe, and directly from Medieval Latin taxa, from Latin taxare (see tax (v.)). Related: taxes. Tax shelter is attested from 1961.
taxable (adj.): "subject to taxation," late 15c., from Anglo-Latin taxabilis; see tax (v.) + -able.
taxation (n.): early 14c., "imposition of taxes," from Anglo-French taxacioun, Old French taxacion, from Latin taxationem (nominative taxatio), noun of action from past participle stem of taxare (see tax (v.)).
taxi (n.): 1907, shortening of taximeter cab (introduced in London in March 1907), from taximeter "automatic meter to record the distance and fare" (1898), from French taximètre, from German Taxameter (1890), coined from Medieval Latin taxa "tax, charge." An earlier English form was taxameter (1894), used in horse-drawn cabs. Taxi dancer "woman whose services may be hired at a dance hall" is recorded from 1930. Taxi squad in U.S. football is 1966, from a former Cleveland Browns owner who gave his reserves jobs with his taxicab company to keep them paid and available ["Dictionary of American Slang"], but other explanations (short-term hire or shuttling back and forth from the main team) seem possible.
taxi (v.): 1911, from earlier slang use of taxi (n.) for "aircraft." Related: Taxied; taxiing.
taxicab (n.): 1907, from taxi (n.) + cab (n.).
taxidermy (n.): 1820, from Greek taxis "arrangement," from tassein "arrange" (see tactics) + derma "skin."
taxon (n.): 1929, from German (1926), shortened from taxonomie (see taxonomy).
taxonomy (n.): 1828, from French taxonomie (1813), introduced by Linnæus and coined irregularly from Greek taxis "arrangement" (see taxidermy) + -nomia "method," from -nomos "managing," from nemein "manage" (see numismatics).