Etymograph

English

tour

Tour is borrowed from Old French tour ‘turn’, from the verb torner ‘to turn’.

  1. Old Frenchc. 842–1400torner1‘to turn’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400tour1‘turn’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1667tour1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English tour
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1667, John Milton, Book X: “The Bird of Jove, stoopt from his aerie tour,”.

Lineage

  1. Old Frenchc. 842–1400tornerWiktionary, English tour‘to turn’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400tourWiktionary, English tour‘turn’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1667tourWiktionary, English tour. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1667, John Milton, Book X: “The Bird of Jove, stoopt from his aerie tour,”

Explore everything descended from torner →

Another origin of tour

  1. Old Frenchc. 842–1400tor
  2. Englishtodaytour

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Today it means

noun A journey through a particular building, estate, country, etc.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “tour”. 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 / Old French torner / tour