Meanings
-t1
- Used to form the past tense and/or past participle of some verbs.
keep + -t → kept
3 more examples
leap + -t → leapt
dream + -t → dreamt
sleep + -t → slept
-t2
- An excrescent ending appended to words suffixed with -s.
against, amidst, amongst, betwixt, whilst, twicet
-t3
- Used to form nouns from verbs of action; equivalent to -th.
bow + -t → bout
5 more examples
arise + -t → arist
drive + -t → drift
see + -t → sight
thieve + -t → theft
thrive + -t → thrift
-t4
alternative -et
- idiomaticUsed to form verbs from nouns or adjectives (compare -ate, -ize), frequently having a causative force, or modified from an existing verb into a frequentative verb.
yeet (adress with ye), grunt, fidget, haunt (via French), elt (via Old Norse), belt (“to sing loudly”) (perhaps via West Frisian), jolt
-t5
- slangAfrican-American VernacularAdded to the end of words ending in ⟨d⟩, representing an AAVE pronunciation as /t/ rather than /d/, now generally with intensifying force.
good + -t → goodt
5 more examples
period + -t → periodt
Lord + -t → Lordt
I'm at a very weird stage in my life where i feel worthless and like I'm ruining out of time but I'm also really young bUT I'm not doing anything I love or that makes me happy so I'm SADT
2018 May 29, @chave1y, Twitter, archived from the original on 19 Jan 2024Day two of Lemon flavoured coffee 🥲💔 oh my godt
2021 November 24, @NalediMOfficial, Twitter, archived from the original on 19 Jan 2024They ate this SO BADT
2023 April 23, @mingiiki, Twitter, archived from the original on 19 Jan 2024
Origin
-t · suffix
- Proto-Germanic*-id-
- Old English-te
- Middle English-te
- English-t
From Middle English -te (past tense ending), -t (past participle ending), from Old English -te, -de (first and third person past tense ending), -t, -ed, -od (past participle ending), from Proto-Germanic *-id- (past tense stem ending of class 1 weak verbs) and *-idaz (past participle ending of class 1 weak verbs). In some verbs, like lose/lost, the ‐t‐/‐t arose during the Middle English period from the devoicing of the earlier ‐d‐/‐d. This devoicing typically occurred after the suffix was syncopated from ‐ede and ‐ed, forcing the voiced alveolar stop directly against the stem’s final consonant. See -ed (etymologies 1 and 2). Furthermore, in forms such as spelt and burnt, the participial -t is a later development during the Early Modern English period.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →-t · suffix
- Middle English-t
- English-t
From Middle English -t (e.g. aȝenst vs. aȝens (“against”)), likely resulting from -s + the, or various other words beginning with th-, t-.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →-t · suffix
- Proto-Germanic*-þiz
- Old English-t
- Middle English-t
- English-t
From Middle English -t, from Old English -t, variant of -þ (“-th”) following spirant/fricative sounds, from Proto-Germanic *-þiz. More at -th.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →-t · suffix
- Proto-Germanic*-atjaną
- Proto-West Germanic*-attjan
- Old English-ettan
- Middle English-ten
- English-t
Suffix from Middle English -ten, from Old English -ettan, from Proto-West Germanic *-attjan, from Proto-Germanic *-atjaną.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
-t. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/-t
“-t.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/-t. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “-t,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/-t.
Source: -t on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.