Etymograph

English

tusche

Tusche comes from German tuschen ‘to paint with watercolours’, from French toucher ‘the act of touching (see below)’, and perhaps ultimately from Frankish *tukkōn ‘to hit, bump, contact’.

  1. Frankishc. 250–700*tukkōn1‘to hit, bump, contact’uncertain
  2. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*toccāre1‘to strike’reconstructed
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400tochier1‘to touch’
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600toucher1‘to touch’
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presenttoucher2‘the act of touching (see below)’
  6. Germanc. 1650–presenttuschen2‘to paint with watercolours’
  7. Germanc. 1650–presentTusche2
  8. Englishtodaytusche2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, French toucher
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English tusche

Lineage

  1. Frankishc. 250–700*tukkōnWiktionary, French toucher‘to hit, bump, contact’uncertain
  2. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*toccāreWiktionary, French toucher‘to strike’reconstructed
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400tochierWiktionary, French toucher‘to touch’
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600toucherWiktionary, French toucher‘to touch’
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presenttoucherWiktionary, English tusche‘the act of touching (see below)’
  6. Germanc. 1650–presenttuschenWiktionary, English tusche‘to paint with watercolours’
  7. Germanc. 1650–presentTuscheWiktionary, English tusche
  8. EnglishtodaytuscheWiktionary, English tusche

Linked words

through Old French tochier ‘to touch’

touch

through French toucher ‘the act of touching (see below)’

retouch

Today it means

noun A black liquid used in lithography for drawing and painting and in etching and the silk-screen process as a resist.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “tusche”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for French toucher. 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 / Frankish *tukkōn / tusche

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