token

The story

1. Old English · inherited fromtācnian
2. Middle English · inherited fromtoknen
3. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*deyḱ-“to show, instruct, teach”
4. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*taikną“indicator, symbol, sign”
5. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*taikn
6. Old English · inherited fromtācn“sign, symbol”
7. Middle English · inherited fromtoken
8. English todaytoken

From Middle English token, taken, from Old English tācn (“sign, symbol”), from Proto-West Germanic *taikn, from Proto-Germanic *taikną (“indicator, symbol, sign”), from Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- (“to show, instruct, teach”) with Germanic *k rather than *h by Kluge's law. Cognate with Scots takin, taiken (“token, sign”), Saterland Frisian Teken (“sign, symbol”), West Frisian teken (“sign, mark, symbol”), Dutch teken (“sign, indication, symbol”), German Low German Teken (“sign, symbol”), German Zeichen (“sign, token”), Danish tegn (“sign, token, character”), Swedish tecken (“sign, indication”), Faroese tekn, tekin (“mark, sign, signal”), Icelandic teikn (“sign, omen”), Icelandic tákn (“symbol”). The verb is from Middle English toknen, from Old English tācnian.

Words from the same roots