Etymograph

English

tout

Tout comes from Middle English touten ‘to jut out, protrude, gaze upon, observe, peer’, and goes back to Old English *tūtian.

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150*tūtian1‘to be sticking out, protrude’reconstructed
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500touten1‘to jut out, protrude, gaze upon, observe, peer’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1600tout1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English tout
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1600, Edward Fairfax, The Jerusalem Delivered of Tasso: “Nor durst Orcanes view the Soldan's face, / But…”.

Lineage

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150*tūtianWiktionary, English tout‘to be sticking out, protrude’reconstructed
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500toutenWiktionary, English tout‘to jut out, protrude, gaze upon, observe, peer’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1600toutWiktionary, English tout. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1600, Edward Fairfax, The Jerusalem Delivered of Tasso: “Nor durst Orcanes view the Soldan's face, / But…”

The story

Possibly influenced by dialectal toot (‘to stick out; project; peer out; peep’), from Middle English toten, totien, from Old English tōtian (‘to peep out; look; pry; spectate’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Every English word from Old English *tūtian

Another origin of tout

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtōtusuncertain
  2. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CEtōttusuncertain
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400tot‘all’uncertain
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600tout‘all’uncertain
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presenttout‘all’uncertain
  6. Englishtodaytout

Today it means

noun Someone advertising for customers in an aggressive way.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “tout”. 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 English *tūtian / tout

Shirt and support for this word