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tamper

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Etymology and origin of the English word tamper

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈtæm.pə(ɹ)/[1]

tamper1 to meddle, interfere

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1567 T. Harman, A Caveat for Common Cursitors
Ultimate origin
Latin temperō
Etymology tree of tamper1
inherited borrowed derived
Latin temperō
English temper
English tamper
From the same root · tamper1
Latin obtemperō ← temperō
Latin temperāmentum ← temperō
Latin temperāns ← temperō
Latin temperātiō ← temperō
Latin temperātūra ← temperō
Latin temperātus ← temperō
Latin temperiēs ← temperō

Etymology

The word for meddling is apparently from English an altered form of the verb temper, as used of clay.[2][3][4][5][6][7] Before 1600 it was mostly spelt temper: to temper clay appears to have become, without an object, to temper, then to temper in clay, and figuratively to temper or tamper in or with any matter.[2][3] The form tamper, found of clay in 1573, was probably a dialect or workmen's pronunciation that became established and kept the verb apart from temper.[2][3][8] That verb is from Old English temprian (“to moderate by mixture”), from Latin temperō (“to mix in due proportion, regulate”).[2][8] Merriam-Webster Unabridged derives it instead probably from Middle French temprer (“to mix, meddle, blend, temper”),[9] and Weekley compares the French phrase tremper dans une affaire (“to be mixed up in a business”).[10] The OED and Barnhart compare the similar development of meddle,[2][3] which, Ayto notes, also first meant to mix.[4] Johnson called its origin uncertain and cited Skinner's derivation from the Latin verb.[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

To enter into secret dealings with a person, often meddling or interfering: 1567, in Thomas Harman's Caveat for Common Cursitors, spelt temper.[2][3][9]

Semantic evolution

The clay-working sense from which the word arose, to work clay so as to mix it thoroughly, is recorded in Tusser in 1573 and is now obsolete.[2][3][8] Ayto sees the idea of mixing leading naturally to interference, so that by the end of the 16th century tampering with clay had become tampering with anything.[4] The OED has to meddle with a thing from 1601, in Holland's Pliny, to scheme, plot from 1607, and to interfere with something so as to alter or corrupt it from before 1616, in Shakespeare;[2] Barnhart dates the spelling tamper in this use to 1610,[3] and Etymonline the sense of making unauthorized changes to the 1590s.[8] Johnson (1755) gave first the sense "to be busy with physick", meddling with someone medically, which the OED records from 1655 to 1785, and second "to meddle".[11][2] A transitive use, to bias or sway a person, lasted from 1687 to 1702.[2] The verbal noun tampering is recorded as improper interference by 1854,[8] and the Shorter Oxford lists the compounds tamper-evident, tamper-proof and tamper-resistant.[5]

Timeline

  • 1567 – to enter into secret or improper dealings with a person, spelt temper.[2][3][9]
  • 1573 – to work clay so as to mix it thoroughly (obsolete).[2][3]
  • 1601 – to meddle with a thing.[2]
  • 1607 – to scheme, plot.[2]
  • before 1616 – to interfere with something so as to alter or corrupt it.[2] Barnhart dates the spelling tamper to 1610.[3]
  • 1655 – to meddle with someone medically (obsolete by 1785).[2]
  • 1687 – transitive, to bias or sway a person (obsolete by 1702).[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To interfere with something so as to damage or alter it, or to make changes that are not allowed: Someone had tampered with the smoke alarm.[12][9][5]
  2. To try to influence a person improperly or secretly, especially by bribery or intimidation: He was charged with tampering with the referee.[12][9]
  3. To meddle: Don't tamper in matters you don't understand.[12][9]
  4. (obsolete, 1655–1785) To meddle with someone medically.[2][5][11]
  5. (obsolete) To work or temper clay.[2][5]

Word family

  • tamperer
  • tamperproof
  • untampered

tamper2 one who or that which tamps

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1864 Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language
Ultimate origins
English tampProto-Germanic *-ārī

Etymology

The word for a person or thing that tamps is formed from English tamp + -er.[2][8][9][5] That verb, recorded from 1819 in mining and quarrying, is apparently a 19th-century workmen's word, perhaps a back-formation from tampin, a variant of tampion, mistaken for a present participle.[8][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who tamps a boring, or a tamping bar: 1864, in Webster's dictionary.[2] Etymonline notes that it was first used in mining and quarrying, of stopping up the hole in which a blasting charge is placed.[8]

Semantic evolution

Later the word was applied to tools and machines for packing down earth, ballast or concrete.[5][9] From 1945, in H. D. Smyth's account of the development of atomic energy, a tamper was also a casing around the core of an atomic bomb that increases its efficiency.[2][5][9]

Timeline

  • 1864 – one who tamps a boring; a tamping bar.[2][8]
  • 1945 – a casing around the core of an atomic bomb.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A person or thing that tamps, especially a tool or machine for packing down earth, ballast or concrete.[5][9][2]
  2. In mining, a person who fills the hole in which a blasting charge has been placed, or the rod used to pack it.[9][2]
  3. A casing around the core of a nuclear weapon that reflects neutrons and makes the explosion more efficient.[5][9][2]

Usage notes

The OED also records a rare verb tamper, to beat lightly or tap, found only in Philemon Holland (1606) and perhaps suggested by the Latin verb temperō.[2]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  11. ^ a b c Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins

Related etymologies

  • glad · also from Old English
  • fish · also from Old English
  • drink · also from Old English
  • beach · also from Old English
  • wear · also from Old English
  • wind · also from Old English
  • twice · also from Old English
  • mouth · also from Old English
Cite this entry

“Tamper.” Etymologically, 13 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/tamper. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

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