Etymograph

English

tag

Tag comes from Middle English tagge ‘small piece hanging from a garment’.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tagge1‘small piece hanging from a garment’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1596tag1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English tag
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1596, Edmund Spenser: “For upon the like Proclamation there, they all came…”.

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500taggeWiktionary, English tag‘small piece hanging from a garment’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1596tagWiktionary, English tag. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1596, Edmund Spenser: “For upon the like Proclamation there, they all came…”

Explore everything descended from tagge →

Another origin of tag

  1. Parthianmodern*𐫤𐫀𐫃reconstructed
  2. Aramaicc. 1000 BCE–700 CEתגאtaga‘crown’
  3. Englishtodaytag

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Today it means

noun A small label.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “tag”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Middle English tagge / tag