Etymograph

English

tilde

Tilde comes from Spanish tilde, and goes back to Latin titulus ‘superscript’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtitulus1‘superscript’
  2. Spanishc. 1500–presenttilde1
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1992tilde1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English tilde
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1992, Robert Bringhurst: “swung dash A stock keyboard character, used in mathematics…”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtitulusWiktionary, English tilde‘superscript’
  2. Spanishc. 1500–presenttildeWiktionary, English tilde
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1992tildeWiktionary, English tilde. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1992, Robert Bringhurst: “swung dash A stock keyboard character, used in mathematics…”

Linked words

through Latin titulus ‘superscript’

tittle, titer, 4 more

Today it means

noun In Spanish, ⟨ñ⟩ is a palatalized ⟨n⟩, for example in ⟨cañón⟩.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “tilde”. 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 titulus / tilde

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