English
tease
Tease comes from Middle English tesen ‘to card wool’, from Old English tǣsan ‘to tease’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *deh₂y- ‘to separate, divide’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*deh₂y-1‘to separate, divide’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*taisaną2‘to tug, to pull’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*taisijan3‘to separate, tug, shred’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150tǣsan3‘to tease’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tesen3‘to card wool’
- Englishearliest quotation 1684tease3
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *taisaną
- 2 Wiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *taisijan
- 3 Wiktionary, English tease
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1684, Samuel Butler: “Not by the force of carnal reason, / But…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*deh₂y-Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *taisaną‘to separate, divide’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*taisanąWiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *taisijan‘to tug, to pull’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*taisijanWiktionary, English tease‘to separate, tug, shred’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150tǣsanWiktionary, English tease‘to tease’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tesenWiktionary, English tease‘to card wool’
- Englishearliest quotation 1684teaseWiktionary, English tease. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1684, Samuel Butler: “Not by the force of carnal reason, / But…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *deh₂y- ‘to separate, divide’
Today it means
verb To separate the fibres of (a fibrous material).
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “tease”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Germanic *taisaną, Proto-West Germanic *taisijan. 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 *deh₂y- / tease