Etymologically
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total

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 19:46. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈtəʊ.təl/, US /ˈtoʊ.təl/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English total (“whole”), borrowed from Old French total,[2][3][4] from Medieval Latin tōtālis (“entire, total”), as in summa tōtālis (“sum total”),[2][3][5] from Latin tōtus (“all, whole, entire”),[3][2][5] a word of unknown or uncertain origin.[3][2][6] Barnhart thinks it was probably also borrowed directly from Medieval Latin.[2] Klein suggests that tōtus originally meant “crammed full”, relating it to tumēre (“to swell”).[6] It is related to totality and totalitarian.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or relating to the whole of something: about 1386[8] or 1390, in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.[2]

Semantic evolution

“Constituting a whole, entire” is from about 1400,[8] and “complete in degree, utter, absolute” from 1647.[8] The noun, “the whole amount, sum”, is from the mid-15th century[3] or 1557.[2][9] The verb meant “to add up” from 1716[8][3] and “to amount to” from 1859.[8][3] Total abstinence from alcohol is from 1831,[8] and in Scotland and the north total was short for teetotal.[10] Total war is from 1937, in William Shirer, of a concept developed in Germany.[3] “To wreck a car completely”, so that the insurer declares it a total loss, is recorded by 1954.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1386 – of the whole (Chaucer).[8]
  • c. 1400 – entire.[8]
  • mid-15th century – noun, the whole amount.[3]
  • 1647 – absolute, utter.[8]
  • 1716 – verb, to add up.[8][3]
  • 1831 – total abstinence.[8]
  • 1859 – verb, to amount to.[8][3]
  • 1937 – total war.[3]
  • 1954 – verb, to wreck a car.[3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Of or making up the whole; entire.
  2. Complete, utter, absolute: a total failure.

Noun

  1. An amount obtained by addition; a sum.
  2. A whole quantity; an entirety.

Verb

  1. To find the total of; to add up.
  2. To amount to.
  3. (informal) To wreck completely, as a car.

Word family

  • subtotal
  • totalism
  • totalitarian
  • retotal
  • supertotal
  • totalize
  • totality
  • totally

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ 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)