Etymograph

English

tappoon

Tappoon comes from Spanish tampón ‘plug, stopper’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *tappô.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*tappô1‘plug, tap’reconstructed
  2. Frankishc. 250–700*tappō1reconstructed
  3. Frenchc. 1600–presenttampon2‘plug, stopper’
  4. Spanishc. 1500–presenttampón3‘plug, stopper’
  5. Englishtodaytappoon3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, French tampon
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Spanish tampón
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English tappoon

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*tappôWiktionary, French tampon‘plug, tap’reconstructed
  2. Frankishc. 250–700*tappōWiktionary, French tamponreconstructed
  3. Frenchc. 1600–presenttamponWiktionary, Spanish tampón‘plug, stopper’
  4. Spanishc. 1500–presenttampónWiktionary, English tappoon‘plug, stopper’
  5. EnglishtodaytappoonWiktionary, English tappoon

Linked words

through Proto-Germanic *tappô ‘plug, tap’

tap, tapas, 1 more

through French tampon ‘plug, stopper’

tampon

Today it means

noun A piece of wood or sheet metal fitted into a ditch to dam up the water so as to overflow and irrigate a field.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “tappoon”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for French tampon, Spanish tampón. 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 / Proto-Germanic *tappô / tappoon

Shirt and support for this word