Etymology

hand-to-mouth

Today it means: Involving immediate consumption (especially of food) with no provision for the future; having barely enough to survive, in poverty Full definition →

English mouth ← Middle English mouth ← Old English mūþ
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic*handuz
  2. Proto-West Germanic*handu
  3. Old Englishhand
  4. Middle Englishhond
  5. Englishhand
  6. Proto-Indo-European*de
  7. Proto-Indo-European*doh₁
  8. Proto-Germanic*tō
  9. Proto-West Germanic*tō
  10. Old Englishtō
  11. Middle Englishto
  12. Englishto
  13. Proto-Indo-European*men-
  14. Proto-Indo-European*mn̥-tó-s
  15. Proto-Germanic*munþaz
  16. Proto-West Germanic*munþ
  17. Old Englishmūþ
  18. Middle Englishmouth
  19. Englishmouth
  20. English todayhand-to-mouth

From hand + to + mouth.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.