time

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English time, inherited from Old English tīma (“time, period, space of time”),^[2][3][4][5] from Proto-Germanic *tīmô.^[1][6] Its cognates are Old Norse tími (“time, proper time, prosperity”), Swedish timme (“hour”) and Danish time (“hour”).^[2][4][7][3] It is formed from the same Germanic base as tide, Old English tīd, with a different suffix;^[2][8][5][4] Ayto gives the Germanic form as *tīmon.^[9] The base is usually traced to Proto-Indo-European *dā- (“to divide, cut up”),^[7][5] so that the word first meant a section of existence, a period,^[9] but the OED calls its origin uncertain and disputed and mentions another account that connects it with Latin diū (“for a long time”).^[2] It is not related to tempus.^[1] The verb, inherited from Middle English timen (“to happen”), comes partly inherited from Old English getīmian (“to happen, befall”) and partly from the noun.^[7][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A limited stretch of time, a period: Old English tīma is recorded before 899, in King Alfred's translation of Orosius.^[4] Etymonline glosses the Old English word as "temporal duration, a limited space of time".^[7]

Semantic evolution

Barnhart notes that some extended senses go back to Old English, such as "an occasion" and "the right time", while others arose in Middle English, such as "leisure" (about 1220), or later, such as "an experience" (before 1529) and the rhythm of a piece of music (1531).^[4] The abstract sense, time as continuous duration without limit, appears only in the 14th century,^[9][3][7] and time replaced tide in the strictly temporal senses.^[8] Unlike French, which has French temps and fois, or German, with German Zeit and Mal, English uses one word for both a stretch of time and a single occurrence, and also for the hour of the clock.^[7] The phrase to have a good time was common in England from about 1520 to 1688, survived in America, and came back into British use in the 19th century.^[7][10] Time of day was a 17th-century greeting, the source of give someone the time of day.^[7] The verb first meant "to happen", a sense lost by about 1440;^[2] from the late 14th century it meant to do something at a chosen moment;^[2][7] since the 17th century it has also meant to measure how long something takes.^[7][4]

Timeline

• before 899 – a period, a space of time; an occasion; the right time.^[4]
• c. 1220 – leisure, time available for something.^[4]
• c. 1225 – verb, to happen, befall (obsolete by 1440).^[2]
• mid-14th century – one of a number of repeated occasions, as in how many times.^[7]
• c. 1380 – times, multiplied by.^[4][7]
• late 14th century – time as indefinite continuous duration.^[7][3][9]
• before 1393 – verb, to do something at a chosen or fitting moment.^[2]
• before 1529 – an experience, as in have a good time.^[4]
• 1531 – the rhythm or measure of a piece of music.^[4]
• 1590s – give the time of day, to greet.^[7]
• 1660s – verb, to measure how long something takes.^[7] Barnhart's first record is in Milton's History of Britain (1670).^[4]
• 1892 – time zone.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The continuous passage of existence, in which events move from the future through the present into the past.^[11][12]
2. A period during which something happens or continues: They waited a long time for the bus.^[12][2]
3. A particular moment, especially as shown by a clock: What time does the shop close?^[7][12]
4. One occasion among several: She has climbed the mountain three times.^[7][4]
5. The right or appointed moment for something: It's time to leave.^[4][2]
6. Often in plural: a period of history, or its conditions: in medieval times.^[2][12]
7. Time available for something; leisure: I have no time to read.^[4]
8. An experience of a particular kind: We had a great time at the fair.^[4][7]
9. (music) The rhythm or tempo of a piece.^[4]
10. times: multiplied by: Three times four is twelve.^[4][7]

Verb

1. To arrange or choose the moment for something: She timed her arrival for noon.^[12][2]
2. To measure how long something takes: The coach timed each runner.^[7][4]
3. To regulate an action so that it keeps to a rhythm.^[2]
4. (obsolete) To happen, befall.^[2][8]

Word family

• mistime
• overtime
• retime
• timed
• timer
• timing

Related words

• tide
• timely

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
10. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster