Etymologically
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tar

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Pronunciation

tar1 black sticky substance

Etymology

The substance is inherited from Middle English ter, later tarre,[2][1][3] inherited from Old English teoru, also teru,[4][5][2][6][7] from Proto-Germanic *terwą.[8] It is cognate with Old Frisian tera, Middle Low German tere, Middle Dutch tar, Dutch teer, German Teer and Old Norse tjara, whence Swedish tjära and Danish tjære.[2][4][9][6] The Germanic word is generally held to derive from the stem of tree, Gothic 𐍄𐍂𐌹𐌿 (triu),[4][6][2][9] so that it first meant the pitch of certain trees, such as pines.[4][6][10] Watkins traces it to Proto-Indo-European *deru- (“be firm, solid; tree”),[5][11] and Klein compares Ancient Greek δόρυ (dóru, “beam, shaft of a spear”);[9] the OED also compares Latvian darva (“tar”).[4] The verb is terren,[5][2][12] from late Old English tirwan, to smear with tar,[5][7] formed from the noun.[5][4][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tar, resin or gum: Old English, in the Épinal Glossary,[4][7] before 700 in Barnhart.[2] Middle English has ter about 1250, in Genesis and Exodus, and tar before 1382, in the Wycliffe Bible.[2]

Semantic evolution

Old English teoru meant tar, resin or gum, and also ear wax.[7][14] Tar was used to ointment sheep, to caulk ships and as an incendiary;[5] Johnson (1755) defined it as liquid pitch, the turpentine of pine or fir drawn out by fire.[15] From 1747 the word was applied to natural substances like it, such as petroleum and bitumen,[4] and later to the residue of tobacco smoke.[13][12] In the 20th century it was a colloquial word for tarmac (1934)[4][13] and American slang for opium and later black heroin (1935).[4][13] The verb, to coat with tar, is recorded about 1250 in Barnhart and about 1300 in the OED, in Havelok.[2][4] Its figurative use, to taint or disgrace, appears before 1612, often in tarred with the same brush (or stick).[4][13] To tar and feather is first recorded in 1769, in a Boston newspaper;[4][5] the punishment was used by mobs in America during the Revolution, and Etymonline notes that an ordinance of Richard I (1189) already prescribed it.[5] To beat the tar out of someone is recorded from 1884.[4][5]

Timeline

  • before 700 – Old English teoru, tar.[2][4]
  • c. 1250 – Middle English ter; the verb terren.[2]
  • c. 1300 – to smear with tar.[4]
  • before 1382 – the form tar.[2]
  • before 1612 – figurative, to taint or defame.[4]
  • 1747 – natural substances like tar, such as petroleum.[4]
  • 1769 – to tar and feather.[4][5]
  • 1884 – to beat the tar out of.[4][5]
  • 1934 – tarmac, a tarred road.[4]
  • 1935 – US slang, opium; later black tar heroin.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A thick, dark, sticky liquid obtained by the destructive distillation of wood, coal, peat or other organic matter: They caulked the hull with pine tar.[16][12][4]
  2. Coal tar.[16]
  3. A similar dark residue formed in burning tobacco.[12][13]
  4. (colloquial) Tarmac, or a road surfaced with it.[4][13]
  5. (US slang) Heroin, especially black tar heroin; formerly opium.[4][13]

Verb

  1. To coat or cover with tar.[16][12][4]
  2. tar and feather: to smear someone with tar and cover them with feathers as a punishment.[16][4][13]
  3. To taint or smear someone's reputation;[12][4] tarred with the same brush: thought to have the same faults.[16][12][13][4]

Word family

  • tarry
  • tarpaper
  • tarpit
  • tarbrush
  • tarmac
  • tarmacadam
  • tarpaulin
  • tarweed

tar2 sailor

Etymology

The sailor is probably a shortening of tarpaulin, which was a nickname for a sailor in the 1640s;[5][2][6][9][10][16][17] the OED calls it perhaps an abbreviation.[4] Etymonline and Barnhart also allow a special use of tar1, a staple aboard ships,[5][2] and Johnson derived it from the tar used in ships.[15] Weekley compares the earlier tar-breech and French cul goudronné (“tarred backside”).[18]

Earliest recorded meaning

A sailor: in Wycherley's The Plain-Dealer, 1676 in Barnhart and Green's Dictionary of Slang,[2][19] 1677 in the OED.[4]

Semantic evolution

Barnhart records tarpaulin as a nickname for a sailor from 1647.[2] The Dictionary of the Canting Crew (about 1698) glossed Tar, tarpaulin as a seaman,[19] and Johnson (1755) defined tar as a sailor, "a seaman in contempt".[15] Jack Tar is recorded from the 18th century.[6]

Timeline

  • 1647 – tarpaulin, a nickname for a sailor.[2]
  • 1676 – tar, a sailor.[2][19]
  • c. 1698 – Tar, tarpaulin, a seaman, in the Dictionary of the Canting Crew.[19]
  • 18th century – Jack Tar.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (informal, dated) A sailor or seaman: an old tar.[16][12][4]

Word family

  • Jack Tar

Usage notes

The verb tar on, to urge on or incite, as in Shakespeare's tarre on, has a separate source, Old English tergan (“to vex, provoke”).[4][13][12] In the Indian subcontinent tar is also a telegram,[4][13] a borrowing from Hindi in the OED[4] or, in the Shorter Oxford, from Persian and Urdu, where it means string or wire.[13]

References

  1. ^ a b c 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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ 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 30 31 32 33 34 35 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  8. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  9. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  11. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  14. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  15. ^ 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.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  17. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  18. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  19. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com