tail

Pronunciation

• IPA: /teɪl/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English taile, inherited from Old English tægl, tægel “posterior extremity”,^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *taglaz,^[2][4] which also gave Old High German zagal “tail”, Old Norse tagl “horse's tail” and Gothic tagl “hair”.^[2][3][4][5] Watkins and Etymonline derive it from PIE *doklos, from a root Proto-Indo-European *dek- (“something long and thin”), whose other descendants include Old Irish dúal “lock of hair” and perhaps Sanskrit daśā “fringe”.^[2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The posterior extremity of an animal: before 800 in the OED.^[6][3] Word Origins and the OED think the base meaning in Germanic was a hairy tail or tuft of hair, as on a horse, but already Old English applied it to the hairless tails of worms and bees.^[7][2]

Semantic evolution

By the late 14th century it meant the hinder or concluding part of anything, such as a text or a storm.^[2] The descending stroke of a letter is from the 1590s, the reverse of a coin, opposite the head, from the 1680s,^[2][7] and tails for a tailcoat from 1857.^[2] To turn tail (1580s) seems first to have been a term of falconry.^[2] The verb meant at first to follow at the tail of (about 1500) and to attach to the tail (1520s);^[2][3] to follow secretly, as a detective, is American from 1907,^[2][3][7] and to tail off, to diminish, from 1854.^[2] Having one's tail between one's legs has described shame since the Middle Ages, and the tail wagging the dog is a mid-20th-century image.^[7]

Timeline

• before 800 – an animal's tail.^[6]
• late 14th century – the hindmost part of anything.^[2]
• c. 1500 – to follow behind.^[2]
• 1580s – to turn tail.^[2]
• 1680s – the reverse of a coin.^[2]
• 1854 – to tail off.^[2]
• 1857 – tails, a tailcoat.^[2]
• 1907 – to follow secretly.^[2][3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The rear part of an animal's body, especially when it extends beyond the trunk.
2. The rear, bottom or last part of something: the tail of the queue.
3. The rear part of an aircraft.
4. The luminous stream of gas and dust behind a comet.
5. (tails) The reverse side of a coin.
6. (tails) A tailcoat, or formal evening dress.
7. (informal) A person who follows another to watch them.

Verb

1. To follow and keep watch on someone.
2. (tail off) To become gradually smaller or weaker.
3. To remove the tail or stalks of; to dock.

Word family

• tailless
• tailed
• taillike
• tailer
• taillessly
• taillessness

Related words

• cat-o'-nine-tails
• tail covert
• tail fin
• entail
• tailcoat
• tailgate

Usage notes

Tail in law, the limitation of an inheritance to particular heirs, as in an estate in tail or fee tail, is a different word, from Old French taille “a cutting, division”, from taillier “to cut” (see tailor and entail).^[4][2][5][8]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press