Etymograph

English

top

Top comes from Middle English top ‘the peak of a mountain or other landform’, from Old English topp ‘top, highest part’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *tuppaz ‘braid, pigtail, end’.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*tuppaz1‘braid’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*topp1‘top’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150topp1‘top’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500top1‘the peak of a mountain or other landform’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1590top1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English top
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book I, Canto VII: “Like glauncing light of Phoebus brightest ray; From top…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*tuppazWiktionary, English top‘braid’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*toppWiktionary, English top‘top’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150toppWiktionary, English top‘top’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500topWiktionary, English top‘the peak of a mountain or other landform’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1590topWiktionary, English top. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book I, Canto VII: “Like glauncing light of Phoebus brightest ray; From top…”

The story

The sense of a spinning toy is separated from this, obscurely related to Dutch top and dop in this sense, against Standard Dutch tol, and French toupie having this sense.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Word family

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

through Proto-Germanic *tuppaz ‘braid, pigtail, end’

  • toupee ← toupet ← toupet ← toupet ← top

through Middle English top ‘the peak of a mountain or other landform’

Explore everything descended from *tuppaz →

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Today it means

noun The highest or uppermost part of something.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “top”. 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 *tuppaz / top