Etymograph

English

teal

Teal may come from Old English *tǣle ‘guilty of, at fault with’, from Proto-Germanic *tēlō ‘deception, ruse, persecution’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *del- ‘to aim, calculate, number, adjust, account’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*del-1‘to aim, calculate, number, adjust, account’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*tēlō1‘deception, ruse, persecution’uncertain
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*tēlijaz1uncertain
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*tālī1uncertain
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150*tǣle2‘guilty of, at fault with’uncertain
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tele2
  7. Englishearliest quotation 2021teal2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Old English tæle
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English teal
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2021, Kurt Wallace, Navigating the great dividing voter range: “In a bid to defend their inner-city seats, the…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*del-Wiktionary, Old English tæle‘to aim, calculate, number, adjust, account’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*tēlōWiktionary, Old English tæle‘deception, ruse, persecution’uncertain
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*tēlijazWiktionary, Old English tæleuncertain
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*tālīWiktionary, Old English tæleuncertain
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150*tǣleWiktionary, English teal‘guilty of, at fault with’uncertain
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500teleWiktionary, English teal
  7. Englishearliest quotation 2021tealWiktionary, English teal. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2021, Kurt Wallace, Navigating the great dividing voter range: “In a bid to defend their inner-city seats, the…”

The story

From Middle English tele, probably from an unrecorded Old English *tǣle, cognate with West Frisian tjilling (‘teal’), Middle Dutch teling (‘teal’) (modern Dutch taling), Middle Low German telink, from Proto-Germanic *tailijaz, of unknown ultimate origin, with no cognates outside of Germanic.uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain. As the name of a shade of dark greenish-blue like the color patterns on the fowl's head and wings, it is attested from 1923. The Australian political sense derives from the colour teal being intermediate between green (signifying environmentalism) and blue (signifying the conservative Australian Liberal Party).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *del- ‘to aim, calculate, number, adjust, account’

toll, tale, 3 more

Today it means

noun Any of various small freshwater ducks of the genus Anas that are brightly coloured and have short necks.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “teal”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Old English tæle. 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-Indo-European *del- / teal

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