Etymograph

English

text box

From text + box.

A compound of text + box

Proto-Italic *teksō

…

Latin textus ‘style or texture of a work’

Medieval Latin textus ‘text’

Old French texte

Middle English text

English text

Late Latin buxis ‘box’

Proto-West Germanic *buhsā ‘box’

Old English box ‘box, case’

Middle English box ‘container’

English box

Today it means

noun A block of printed text contained within borders that is intended to be read separately from the major text of the page.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “text box”. 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 / text box

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