Etymograph

English

tosher

Tosher comes from English tosh ‘copper’.

  1. English1500–presenttosh1‘copper’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1851tosher1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English tosher
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1851, H. Mayhew, London labour and the London poor: “The sewer-hunters were formerly, and indeed are still, called…”.

Lineage

  1. English1500–presenttoshWiktionary, English tosher‘copper’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1851tosherWiktionary, English tosher. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1851, H. Mayhew, London labour and the London poor: “The sewer-hunters were formerly, and indeed are still, called…”

Every English word from English tosh

Today it means

noun A thief who steals the copper siding from the bottoms of vessels, particularly in or along the Thames.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “tosher”. 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 / English tosh / tosher

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