toll

B2 Topic:Money & Finance

US /təʊl/ UK [t(ʰ)əʊ̯ɫ] See IPA manual

Freq #7871

Meanings

1

noun
A fee you pay to use a road, bridge, or tunnel.

I forgot to keep change in my car for the toll.
2

noun
The amount of harm, damage, or loss caused by something.

The war has taken a terrible toll on the people.
3

verb
To ring a bell slowly and repeatedly, often for a death.

The church bell tolled as the funeral began.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Word family

Forms tolledtollingtolls

Derived forms e-tolltollertollgate

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

toll plaza
an area containing booths or equipment where road tolls are collected

Noun + noun

Etymology

From Middle English toll, tol, tolle, from Old English toll m or n and toln f (“toll, duty, custom”), from Proto-West Germanic *toll, *tolnu, from Proto-Germanic *tullaz, *tullō (“that which is counted or told, reckoning”), from Proto-Indo-European *del- (“calculation, fraud”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Tol (“toll”), Dutch tol (“toll”), German Zoll (“toll, duty, customs”), Danish told (“toll, duty, tariff”), Swedish tull (“toll, customs”), Icelandic tollur (“toll, customs”). More at tell, tale. Alternate etymology derives Old English toll from Medieval Latin tolōneum, tolōnium, alteration…

toll Old English *toll Proto-West Germanic *tullaz Proto-Germanic *del- Proto-Indo-European tolōneum la-med telōneum Latin τελώνιον Ancient Greek

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Money & Finance

External links

# toll

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /təʊl/
**IPA (UK):** [t(ʰ)əʊ̯ɫ]
**Frequency rank:** 7871

## Meanings
1. A fee you pay to use a road, bridge, or tunnel.
2. The amount of harm, damage, or loss caused by something.
3. To ring a bell slowly and repeatedly, often for a death.

## Examples
- I forgot to keep change in my car for the toll.
- The war has taken a terrible toll on the people.
- The church bell tolled as the funeral began.

## Derived Forms
- e-toll
- toller
- tollgate

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: toll
- Root: *toll
- Root: *tullaz
- Root: *del-
- Root: tolōneum
- Root: telōneum
- Root: τελώνιον

## Etymology
From Middle English toll, tol, tolle, from Old English toll m or n and toln f (“toll, duty, custom”), from Proto-West Germanic *toll, *tolnu, from Proto-Germanic *tullaz, *tullō (“that which is counted or told, reckoning”), from Proto-Indo-European *del- (“calculation, fraud”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Tol (“toll”), Dutch tol (“toll”), German Zoll (“toll, duty, customs”), Danish told (“toll, duty, tariff”), Swedish tull (“toll, customs”), Icelandic tollur (“toll, customs”). More at tell, tale. Alternate etymology derives Old English toll from Medieval Latin tolōneum, tolōnium, alteration…

## AI Etymology
Toll is from Middle English toll, tol, tolle, from Old English toll m or n and toln f (“toll, duty, custom”), from Proto-West Germanic *toll, *tolnu, from Proto-Germanic *tullaz, *tullō (“that which is counted or told, reckoning”), from Proto-Indo-European *del- (“calculation, fraud”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Tol (“toll”), Dutch tol (“toll”), German Zoll (“toll, duty, customs”), Danish told (“toll, duty, tariff”), Swedish tull (“toll, customs”), Icelandic tollur (“toll, customs”). More at tell, tale. Derived formations include e-toll, toller, tollgate.

## Topics
- Money & Finance

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