tumb

English

Etymology

From Middle English tumben, tomben, from Old English tumbian (“to tumble, leap, dance”), from Proto-Germanic *tūmōną (“to turn round”). Cognate with Middle High German tumen (“to turn round”), Icelandic tumba (“to tumble”). See tumble.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ʌm

Verb

tumb (third-person singular simple present tumbs, present participle tumbing, simple past and past participle tumbed)

1. (intransitive, archaic) To tumble; jump; dance.

Related terms

• tumble

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German

Etymology

Borrowed in the 19th century from written Middle High German tump, from Old High German tumb. The inherited form of this word is dumm (Central and Low German) alongside tumm (Upper German; archaic).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʊmp/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

tumb (comparative tumber, superlative am tumbsten or am tumbesten)

1. (rare, literary, dated) simple-minded; naive; oafish

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Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

tumb (plural tumbes)

1. Alternative form of tombe (“tomb”)

Etymology 2

Noun

tumb (plural tumbes)

1. (Northern) Alternative form of þombe (“thumb”)

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Old High German

Etymology

(deprecated template usage)

From Proto-Germanic *dumbaz, whence also Old Saxon dumb, Old English dumb, Old Norse dumbr, Gothic 𐌳𐌿𐌼𐌱𐍃 (dumbs). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ-.

Adjective

tumb

1. dumb
2. stupid

Descendants

• German: tumb; dumm (influenced by Central and Low German)