Etymograph

English

toison

Toison comes from French toison ‘fleece’, from Latin tondeō ‘shave, cut hair’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tend-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tend-1‘to split, cut off’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tondeō1reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtondeō2‘shave, cut hair’
  4. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEtōnsiōnem2
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presenttoison3‘fleece’
  6. Englishtodaytoison3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin tondeo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, French toison
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English toison

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tend-Wiktionary, Latin tondeo‘to split, cut off’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tondeōWiktionary, Latin tondeoreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtondeōWiktionary, French toison‘shave, cut hair’
  4. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEtōnsiōnemWiktionary, French toison
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presenttoisonWiktionary, English toison‘fleece’
  6. EnglishtodaytoisonWiktionary, English toison

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *tend- ‘to split, cut off’

attend, intense, intent, intensive, pretentious, tun, ostensible, 6 more

Today it means

noun A fleece.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “toison”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin tondeo, French toison. 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 *tend- / toison

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