Etymograph

English

tussis

Tussis comes from Latin tussis ‘cough’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewd- ‘to push, to hit’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)tewd-1‘to push, to hit’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tudtís1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tussis1reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtussis2‘cough’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1902tussis2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin tussis
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English tussis
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1902, Robert M. Tooker, The Homœopathic Treatment of Whooping Cough: “In cachectic subjects, or in a strumous child the…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)tewd-Wiktionary, Latin tussis‘to push, to hit’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tudtísWiktionary, Latin tussisreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tussisWiktionary, Latin tussisreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtussisWiktionary, English tussis‘cough’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1902tussisWiktionary, English tussis. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1902, Robert M. Tooker, The Homœopathic Treatment of Whooping Cough: “In cachectic subjects, or in a strumous child the…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewd- ‘to push, to hit’

study, student, studio, obtuse, etude, 11 more

Today it means

noun A cough.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “tussis”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin tussis. 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 *(s)tewd- / tussis

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