Etymograph

English

tool

Tool comes from Old English tōl ‘tool, implement’, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *tōlą and Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- ‘to secure’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dewh₂-1‘to tie to, secure’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*tōlą1‘tool’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150tōl1‘tool’literally ‘that with which one prepares something’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tool1‘a tool’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1613tool1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English tool
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1613, William Shakespeare, The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight: “Or haue wee some strange Indian with the great…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dewh₂-Wiktionary, English tool‘to tie to, secure’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*tōląWiktionary, English tool‘tool’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150tōlWiktionary, English tool‘tool’literally ‘that with which one prepares something’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500toolWiktionary, English tool‘a tool’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1613toolWiktionary, English tool. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1613, William Shakespeare, The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight: “Or haue wee some strange Indian with the great…”

Formed from taw ‘to prepare’ + -le

Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- ‘to tie to, secure’

…

Proto-West Germanic *tauwjan ‘to prepare’

Proto-West Germanic *tawōn

Old English tawian ‘to do, make’

Middle English tawen

English taw

The story

From Middle English tool, tol, from Old English tōl (“tool, implement, instrument”, literally “that with which one prepares something”), perhaps borrowed from Old Norse tól, but at any rate ultimately from Proto-Germanic *tōlą (‘that which is used in preparation, tool’), from Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- (‘to tie to, secure’), equivalent to taw (‘to prepare’) + -le (agent suffix).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- ‘to tie to, secure’

down, beautiful, town, beauty, ben, bonus, teen, dynamic, beneficial, rebel, optimal, dynasty, bonnie, optimism, beau, boo, beneficiary, dun, bona, tow, dynamo, revel, boon, bello, bene, bonny, dynastic, tine, taw, bauble, bellicose, bonbon, 97 more

Today it means

noun Any physical device meant to ease or do a task.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “tool”. 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 *dewh₂- / tool

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