Etymograph

English

tough

Tough comes from Old English tōh ‘tough, tenacious’, from Proto-Germanic *tanhuz ‘clinging, tough’, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *denḱ- ‘to bite’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*denḱ-1‘to bite’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*tinganą1‘to press upon’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*tanhuz1‘fitting’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*tą̄h(ī)1īreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150tōh1‘tough’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tough1
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1958tough1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English tough
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1958, David Gunston, Railways on the Screen: “One of his best stories was "Barney Oldfield's Race…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*denḱ-Wiktionary, English tough‘to bite’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*tinganąWiktionary, English tough‘to press upon’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*tanhuzWiktionary, English tough‘fitting’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*tą̄h(ī)Wiktionary, English toughīreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150tōhWiktionary, English tough‘tough’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500toughWiktionary, English tough
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1958toughWiktionary, English tough. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1958, David Gunston, Railways on the Screen: “One of his best stories was "Barney Oldfield's Race…”

Word family

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

through Proto-Indo-European *denḱ- ‘to bite’

  • tong ← tonge ← tange ← *tangu ← *tangō

1 more relative in the full family tree

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Today it means

adj Of a material, strong and resilient; sturdy.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “tough”. 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 *denḱ- / tough