Etymology

tithe

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Today it means: A tenth. Full definition →

Middle English tithe ← Old English tēoþa ← Proto-Germanic *tehunþô
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*tehunþô
  2. Old English · derived fromtēoþian
  3. Middle English · derived fromtithen
  4. Old English · inherited fromtēoþa
  5. Middle English · inherited fromtithe
  6. English todaytithe

From Middle English tithe, tythe, tethe, from Old English tēoþa, tēoða, teogoþa (in verb senses via Middle English tithen, tythen, tethen, from Old English tēoþian, teogoþian), from a proposed Proto-Germanic *tehunþô, *tehundô (“a tenth”), with its nasal consonant being lost according to the Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law. Cognate with West Frisian tsiende (“tithe”), Saterland Frisian Teeged (“tithe”), Dutch tiende, German Low German Teihnte, German Zehnt (“tithe”), Danish tiende (“tithe”), Icelandic tíund (“tithe”), Dutch tiende (“tithe”). Doublet of tenth.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.