Etymograph

English

till

Till comes from Old English til, from Proto-Germanic *til ‘to, toward’, from *tilą ‘planned point in time’.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*tilą1‘planned point in time’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*til1‘to, toward’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150til1
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500til1‘until’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1599till1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English till
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1599, William Shakespeare: “She, poor bird, as all forlorn / Lean'd her…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*tiląWiktionary, English till‘planned point in time’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*tilWiktionary, English till‘to, toward’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150tilWiktionary, English till
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tilWiktionary, English till‘until’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1599tillWiktionary, English till. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1599, William Shakespeare: “She, poor bird, as all forlorn / Lean'd her…”

The story

Not a contraction of until; rather, until comes from till with the prefix un- (‘against; toward; up to’) also found in unto. Also related to Old English til (‘good’), German Ziel (‘goal’), Gothic 𐍄𐌹𐌻 (til, “something fitting or suitable”).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with till, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Middle English til ‘until, till’

Explore everything descended from *tilą →

Another origin of till

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*delH-‘to allure’uncertain
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150*tyllan‘to draw, attract’uncertain
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tillen‘to draw’uncertain
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tylle
  5. Englishtodaytill

From Middle English tylle (‘till’), possibly from Middle English tillen (‘to draw’) from Old English *tyllan (‘to draw, attract’) (as in betyllan (‘to lure, decoy’) and fortyllan (‘to draw away’); related to *tollian > Middle English tollen).

Another origin of till

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*deh₂y-‘to divide, part’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*tilą‘goal’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*tilōną‘to strive’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150tilian‘to strive’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tilyen‘to cultivate or ready soil for planting’
  6. Englishtodaytill

Another origin of till

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElenticula‘lentil’
  2. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*lenticlareconstructed
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400lentille‘lentil (plant)’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lentile‘the seed of the lentil used as food’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tylle‘a lentil or its edible seed’
  6. Englishtodaytill

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Today it means

prep Until; to, up to; as late as (a given time).

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “till”. 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-Germanic *tilą / till