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tee

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English has two main words spelled tee: the name of the letter T, also used of things shaped like it, and the golfer's tee, whose origin is unknown.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

tee1 letter T, T-shaped thing

Etymology

This tee is the name of the letter T, spelled out.[3][5][2] The OED notes that some technical senses, a Scottish one of 1494–5 and a mining one of 1653, are obscure and may not belong here.[3] The mark aimed at in curling and quoits (1789) may be the same word, from a T-shaped sign marking an exact spot,[3][5][6] though the OED calls it of uncertain origin and rejects a proposed derivation from Old Norse tjá (“to show”) as untenable.[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

As the name of the letter T and of things shaped like it: 1610, in John Guillim's Display of Heraldrie.[3][7] MW dates the word to the 15th century.[1]

Semantic evolution

The letter name came to be used for anything with the shape of a T: a pipe fitting with a side outlet for joining three pipes, a metal bar with a T-shaped section, and similar parts.[1][6] In curling it is the mark on the ice at which the stones are aimed, recorded in Scotland from 1789 and in Scottish dialect also used in quoits.[3][8] The phrase to a tee, exactly, is the same as to a T.[3][1] Since 1948 tee has also been a short spelling of T-shirt.[3]

Timeline

  • 1494–5 – a Scottish technical term.[3]
  • 1610 – the name of the letter T.[3][7]
  • 1653 – a mining term.[3]
  • 1789 – the mark aimed at in curling.[3][7]
  • 1908 – verb, to connect by a T-shaped fitting.[3]
  • 1948 – a T-shirt.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The letter T.
  2. Something shaped like a T, especially a pipe fitting with a side outlet.
  3. (curling) The mark at the centre of the target circles, at which the stones are aimed.
  4. (informal) A T-shirt.

Word family

  • to a tee

tee2 golf

Etymology

The golfer's tee is a back-formation from earlier Scots teaz, a Scots word of unknown origin, whose final -z was taken for a plural ending,[9][7][10] as with pea and its older form pease.[9][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The place from which the ball is struck at the start of each hole, at first a little heap of earth or sand: before 1646, in David Wedderburn's Vocabula.[3] Barnhart dates teaz to 1673 and tee to 1721.[9][7]

Semantic evolution

The tee began as a small mound of sand on which the ball was set, and the name passed to the peg of wood or plastic that replaced it and to the levelled area from which each hole is begun.[3][1][11] The verb, to set the ball on a tee, is as old as the noun.[3] The phrase tee off, to drive from the tee and so to begin, is from 1895.[3] Figurative tee up, to make ready, is recorded from 1938.[3][7] American slang teed off, angry, from 1955, is probably a euphemism for pissed off.[3][7] The name was extended to the stand that holds a football for a kick and the post that holds a ball for batting.[1]

Timeline

  • a1646 – the starting place at each golf hole; verb, to set the ball on it.[3]
  • 1673 – teaz.[9]
  • 1721 – the spelling tee.[9][7]
  • 1895 – tee off, to drive from the tee.[3]
  • 1938 – tee up, to make ready.[3][7]
  • 1955 – teed off, annoyed.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A small peg with a hollow top on which a golf ball is set before the first stroke at a hole.
  2. The level area from which a player begins each hole.
  3. A stand or post that holds a ball for kicking or batting.

Verb

  1. To place a ball on a tee, often with up.
  2. tee off: To drive the ball from the tee; also, to begin something.
  3. (US slang) tee off: To make someone angry.

Word family

  • tee off
  • tee up
  • T
  • T-shirt

Usage notes

A further tee, borrowed in 1800 from the Burmese word for an umbrella, is the gilded umbrella-shaped ornament, often hung with bells, on top of a pagoda in Myanmar.[3][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  2. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  6. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  9. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  11. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin