toggle

Etymology

It is of unknown origin,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} first used as a sailors' word.^[8][9][5] Barnhart, Etymonline and Partridge suggest that it is a frequentative of tog, an old form of tug, with the suffix -le;^[9][10][11] Klein and Weekley connect it with the dialect verb tuggle, from tug.^[12][13] The OED finds it apparently closely related to tuggle, to catch or hold fast, to taigle and to their nasalized form tangle, since a toggle first served to catch a rope or chain and keep it from slipping;^[8] the Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins also sees a probable link with tangle.^[14] Dictionary.com takes it as perhaps a variant of tackle.^[15] Middle English had toggen (“to tug, pull”) and toglen,^[16][17] and a verb toggle, to tug or tussle, a frequentative of tug, is recorded in the “Ancrene Riwle” (before 1250).^[8][16][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A short pin passed through a loop or eye of a rope or a link of a chain to hold it in place: 1769, in William Falconer's Universal Dictionary of the Marine.^[8][9][10] Merriam-Webster dates it to about 1775.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From the nautical pin, the word spread to similar cross-pieces: on the end of a line or watch-chain, or fixed in a belt for hanging a weapon (1873).^[8] Since the late 19th century it has also been a bar-shaped button pushed through a loop to fasten a garment.^[8][4][14] Toggle bolt is recorded from 1794.^[9][10] The verb, to fasten with a toggle, followed in 1836.^[8][9][10] In electronics a toggle was a bistable circuit by 1953,^[8][10] and a toggle switch, the up-and-down kind, is attested by 1938.^[10] In computing it became a key or command that has the opposite effect each time it is used (1982),^[8] which the Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins explains as the notion of turning something through 90 degrees;^[14] the verb "to switch back and forth between two states or options" dates from 1981–82.^[8][10]

Timeline

• before 1250 – toggle, to tug or tussle (obsolete).^[8]
• 1769 – a pin passed through the eye of a rope to hold it in place.^[8][9]
• 1794 – toggle bolt.^[9][10]
• 1836 – verb, to fasten with a toggle.^[8][9]
• 1873 – a cross-piece on the end of a line or chain, or on a belt or strap.^[8]
• 1934 – a spring-opening fastener for hollow walls.^[8][10]
• 1953 – in electronics, a bistable circuit.^[8][10]
• 1981 – verb, to switch from one state or option to another.^[8]
• 1982 – in computing, a key or command that has the opposite effect on successive uses.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A peg or rod fixed crosswise through an eye at the end of a rope or chain, for fastening it through a loop in another.^[7][8][3]
2. A bar-shaped button of wood or plastic, pushed through a loop to fasten a coat or bag: a duffel coat with horn toggles.^[7][4]
3. A pin put through a nautical knot to keep it secure or easier to slip.^[7][3]
4. A toggle joint, or a device using one.^[7][8]
5. (computing) A key, command or switch that turns a feature on and off alternately.^[8][7]

Verb

1. To fasten with, or furnish with, a toggle.^[7][3][8]
2. (computing) To switch between two states or settings, as by pressing a key: She toggled between the two windows.^[7][8]

Word family

• toggler
• toggle bolt
• toggle joint
• toggle switch

Related words

• tug
• tuggle
• tangle
• tow

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
12. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
16. ^ a b Stratmann, Francis Henry (1891), A Middle-English Dictionary, revised by Henry Bradley, Oxford: Clarendon Press
17. ^ Mayhew, A. L.; Skeat, Walter W. (1888), A Concise Dictionary of Middle English from A.D. 1150 to 1580, Oxford: Clarendon Press