Etymograph

English

testoon

Testoon comes from Italian testa ‘head’, and goes back to Latin testa ‘a piece of burned clay, brick, tile’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtesta1‘a piece of burned clay, brick, tile’
  2. Italianc. 1300–presenttesta2‘head’
  3. Italianc. 1300–presenttestone3
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1985testoon3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Italian testa
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Italian testone
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English testoon
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1985, Lorne Campbell: “[…] a half testoon of the Swiss Federation minted…”.

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtestaWiktionary, Italian testa‘a piece of burned clay, brick, tile’
  2. Italianc. 1300–presenttestaWiktionary, Italian testone‘head’
  3. Italianc. 1300–presenttestoneWiktionary, English testoon
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1985testoonWiktionary, English testoon. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1985, Lorne Campbell: “[…] a half testoon of the Swiss Federation minted…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ters- ‘dry’

territory, inter, terrain, terrace, territorial, thirst, terra, terrestrial, terrier, fossa, fosse, terroir, terrine, 39 more

through Latin torreō ‘to burn, parch’

toast, torrent, torrid, 18 more

through Latin testa ‘a piece of burned clay, brick, tile’

testy, testa, 14 more

through Italian testone

tester, 1 more

Today it means

noun An old Italian silver coin.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “testoon”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Italian testa, Italian testone. 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 / Latin testa / testoon

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