taw

See also: Taw, TAw, and TAW

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /tɔː/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː
• Homophone: tau

Etymology 1

From Middle English tawen, from Old English tawian (“to do, make”), from Proto-West Germanic *tawōn, a variant of Proto-West Germanic *tauwjan, from Proto-Germanic *tawjaną (“to make, prepare”), from Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- (“to tie to, secure”).

Cognate with Dutch touwen (“to rope, tether, curry”), Dutch tuien (“to fasten with ropes”), German Tau (“rope, hawser, cable”), Gothic 𐍄𐌰𐌿𐌾𐌰𐌽 (taujan, “to make, prepare”). Related to tool and tether.

Verb

taw (third-person singular simple present taws, present participle tawing, simple past and past participle tawed)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To prepare or dress, as hemp, by beating; to tew.
2. (transitive, by extension) To beat; to scourge.
3. (transitive) To dress and prepare, as the skins of sheep, lambs, goats, and kids, for gloves, etc., by imbuing them with alum, salt, and other agents, for softening and bleaching them.
   1. (transitive) To turn (animals' hide) into leather, usually by soaking it in a certain solution.

Related terms

• tool

Noun

taw

1. (obsolete) Tawed leather.

Derived terms

• tawse

Etymology 2

Unknown. Attested in English from the 18th century. Compare Old English tāw (“instrument”). Also compare Irish togh (“choose, elect”).

Noun

taw (plural taws)

2. A favorite marble in the game of marbles.
   • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 5]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:

     Near the timberyard a squatted child at marbles, alone, shooting the taw with a cunnythumb.

3. A line or mark from which the players begin a game of marbles.
4. (square dancing) A dance partner.

   Walk around your corner; see-saw around your taw.

5. A favorite person; beloved, partner, spouse.

Verb

taw (third-person singular simple present taws, present participle tawing, simple past and past participle tawed)

1. To shoot a marble.

Etymology 3

Compare Phoenician 𐤕‎ (tāw), Hebrew ת‎ (tav), Arabic تاء‎‎ (tāʔ).

Alternative forms

• tav
• taf
• tau

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtaʊ/
• Rhymes: -aʊ

Noun

taw (plural taws)

1. The 22nd and last letter of many Semitic alphabets/abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic.

Translations

Semitic letter

• Catalan: tau (ca) f
• Finnish: tav (fi)
• Hebrew: תָּו‎ (he) f (tav), ת‎ (he) (symbol)
• Latin: thau n
• Russian: тав (ru) m (tav)
• Thai: ตัฟ (dtàf)
• Ukrainian: тав m (tav)
• Yiddish: תּו‎ m or f (tof)

Further reading

• taw on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 4

Compare tew (“to tow”), and tow.

Alternative forms

• tawe (obsolete)

Verb

taw (third-person singular simple present taws, present participle tawing, simple past and past participle tawed)

1. To push; to tug; to tow.
   • 1630, Michael Drayton, The Muses' Elizium:

     Swans vpon the Streame to tawe me

References

Additional sources

• Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967

Anagrams

• ATW, AWT, TWA, Twa, WAT, WTA, Wat, wat

Ili Turki

Noun

taw

1. mountain

References

• Zhào Xiāngrú and Reinhard F. Hahn (1989). "The Ili Turk People and Their Language". Central Asiatic Journal.

Maguindanao

Etymology

Akin to Tagalog tao.

Noun

taw

1. a person

Maltese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /taw/

Verb

taw

1. third-person plural perfect of ta

Maranao

Noun

taw

1. a person, a man or a woman, a human

Tatar

Noun

taw

1. mountain

Welsh

Etymology 1

From Proto-Celtic *tāyeti (“to be (stative)”) (compare Old Irish at·tá, Irish tá), from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand”).

Pronunciation

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /taːu̯/
• (South Wales, standard) IPA^(key): /tau̯/
  • (North Wales, colloquial) IPA^(key): /ta/, /tə/
• Rhymes: -au̯

Conjunction

taw

1. (South Wales) that (introduces a noun clause, marking it for emphasis)
   • 1990, Y Faner, p. 8:

     Gadewch imi ddatgan taw gwaith caled fydd y cyfan.

     Let me declare that hard work it will all be.

Synonyms

• (formal) (North Wales, colloquial) mai

Etymology 2

From Proto-Celtic *tawsos (“silent”), from Proto-Indo-European *teh₂ws- (“still, silent”) (compare Sanskrit तूष्णीम् (tūṣṇīm, “silently”)).

Pronunciation

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /taːu̯/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /tau̯/
• Rhymes: -au̯

Noun

taw m (uncountable)

1. silence

Derived terms

• distaw (“quiet, silent”)
• rhoi taw ar (“to silence”)

Etymology 3

Verb

taw

1. second-person singular imperative of tewi

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
taw	daw	nhaw	thaw
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Wolof

Etymology

Cognate with Fula toɓo, Laalaa fetoɓ, Serer teƥ.

Verb

taw

1. to rain

Noun

taw (definite form taw bi)

1. rain