toe

A2 Topic:General Vocabulary

US /toʊ/ UK /təʊ/ See IPA manual

Homophones

tow /toʊ/

Freq #5434

Meanings

1

noun
One of the five digits at the end of the foot.

She stubbed her toe on the leg of the bed.
2

verb
To touch, tap, or kick something with the toes.

He toed the ball gently across the line.
3

noun
A part at the bottom or far end of something that looks like a toe.

He hit the ball with the toe of the golf club.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Opposites

heel tail

Word family

Forms toedtoeingtoes

Derived forms closed-toefinger-and-toehead-to-toeheel-and-toemistle-toeopened-toepeep-toesplit-toethumb-toetic-tac-toetick-tack-toetimber-toe

Related forms tiptoe

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

toe box
the front part of a shoe that encloses and protects the toes

Noun + noun

Idioms (1)

See all

step on other people's toes
offend or interfere with others by intruding on their responsibilities

Simplified etymology

Toe is inherited from Old English and is recorded as early as about AD 700. The phrase toe the line, recorded from the early 19th century, refers to competitors placing their toes against a starting line before a race.

Etymology

From Middle English to, from Old English tā, (Mercian) tāhe, from Proto-West Germanic *taihā, from Proto-Germanic *taihwǭ, from *tīhwaną (“to show, announce”), from Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- (“to show”). See also Dutch teen, German Zehe, Danish tå, Swedish tå; also Old English teōn (“to accuse”), German zeihen (“to accuse, blame”); also Hittite [script needed] (tekkuššāi), Latin dīcere (“to say”), digitus (“finger”), Ancient Greek δείκνυμι (deíknumi, “to point out, show”), Sanskrit दिदेष्टि (dídeṣṭi), दिशति (diśáti).

*deyḱ- Proto-Indo-European to Middle English tā Old English *taihā Proto-West Germanic *taihwǭ Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

General Vocabulary

External links

# toe

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A2
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /toʊ/
**IPA (UK):** /təʊ/
**Frequency rank:** 5434

## Meanings
1. One of the five digits at the end of the foot.
2. To touch, tap, or kick something with the toes.
3. A part at the bottom or far end of something that looks like a toe.

## Examples
- She stubbed her toe on the leg of the bed.
- He toed the ball gently across the line.
- He hit the ball with the toe of the golf club.

## Antonyms
- heel
- tail

## Derived Forms
- closed-toe
- finger-and-toe
- head-to-toe
- heel-and-toe
- mistle-toe
- opened-toe
- peep-toe
- split-toe
- thumb-toe
- tic-tac-toe
- tick-tack-toe
- timber-toe

## Related Forms
- tiptoe

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *deyḱ-
- Root: to
- Root: tā
- Root: *taihā
- Root: *taihwǭ

## Etymology
From Middle English to, from Old English tā, (Mercian) tāhe, from Proto-West Germanic *taihā, from Proto-Germanic *taihwǭ, from *tīhwaną (“to show, announce”), from Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- (“to show”). See also Dutch teen, German Zehe, Danish tå, Swedish tå; also Old English teōn (“to accuse”), German zeihen (“to accuse, blame”); also Hittite [script needed] (tekkuššāi), Latin dīcere (“to say”), digitus (“finger”), Ancient Greek δείκνυμι (deíknumi, “to point out, show”), Sanskrit दिदेष्टि (dídeṣṭi), दिशति (diśáti).

## AI Etymology
Toe is from Middle English to, from Old English tā, (Mercian) tāhe, from Proto-West Germanic *taihā, from Proto-Germanic *taihwǭ, from *tīhwaną (“to show, announce”), from Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- (“to show”). See also Dutch teen, German Zehe, Danish tå, Swedish tå; also Old English teōn (“to accuse”), German zeihen (“to accuse, blame”); also Hittite [script needed] (tekkuššāi), Latin dīcere (“to say”), digitus (“finger”), Ancient Greek δείκνυμι (deíknumi, “to point out, show”), Sanskrit दिदेष्टि (dídeṣṭi), दिशति (diśáti).

## Topics
- General Vocabulary

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