tight

tight · adjective, adverb¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*ten-“to stretch, pull”
2. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*tenkt-“dense, thick, tight”
3. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*þinhtaz
4. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*þį̄ht(ī)
5. Old English · inherited from*þiht
6. Middle English · inherited fromtight
7. English todaytight

From Middle English tight, tyght, tyȝt, tiht, variants of thight, thiht, from Old English *þiht, *þīht (attested in meteþiht), from Proto-West Germanic *þį̄ht(ī), from Proto-Germanic *þinhtaz, from Proto-Indo-European *tenkt- (“dense, thick, tight”), from Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch, pull”). Cognate with Scots ticht, West Frisian ticht, Danish tæt, Icelandic þéttur (“dense”), Norwegian tett, Swedish tät, Dutch dicht (“dense”), German dicht (“dense”). The current form with t- /t/ rather than etymologically-expected th- /θ/ arose in Middle English under the influence of the etymologically-unrelated verbs tighten and tight, which come from a different Proto-Indo-European root (starting with *d- and thus regularly having t-).

tight · verb²

1. Middle English · inherited fromtighten
2. English todaytight

From Middle English tighten, thyhten (“to make tight”); see tighten.

Words from the same roots