Etymologically
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tube

Etymology and origin of the English word tube

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1590s
Borrowed from
French tube
Ultimate origin
Latin (tubus)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /tʃuːb/, /tjuːb/, US /tuːb/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French tube (15th century) or directly borrowed from Latin tubus (“tube, pipe”),[2][3][4] of unknown origin,[2][5] related to Latin tuba “trumpet”.[6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A hollow organ or passage in the body, in anatomy and zoology: the 1590s in Etymonline.[2] As a pipe or hollow cylinder it is from 1611 in Barnhart, in Cotgrave's dictionary,[5] while MWU gives 1651 and the OED 1658.[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

Glass tubes in chemistry are from 1800,[7][2] and the soft squeezable tube for paste or paint from 1841.[7] A sealed tube is by 1859 in vacuum tube, later extended in electronics to a sealed tube with electrodes;[2] from the cathode-ray or picture tube, the tube came to mean television, by 1959.[2] A cylindrical railway tunnel is from 1847, and London's Central London Railway was called the Twopenny Tube by 1900;[2] to travel by tube is from 1902.[7] The verb, to fit with a tube, is from 1828,[7] and to send by pneumatic tube by 1891.[2] Down the tubes, lost or ruined, is attested by 1963.[2] Tubular is from 1673.[5]

Timeline

  • 1590s – a passage in the body.[2]
  • 1611 – a pipe.[5]
  • 1800 – a chemist's glass tube.[7]
  • 1841 – a squeezable tube.[7]
  • 1847 – a railway tunnel.[2]
  • by 1900 – the Twopenny Tube.[2]
  • by 1959 – television.[2]
  • by 1963 – down the tubes.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A long hollow cylinder for carrying liquids or gases, or for holding things.
  2. A soft container with a cap, for paste or paint: a tube of toothpaste.
  3. (anatomy) A tube-shaped organ or passage in the body.
  4. (British, often the Tube) The London underground railway.
  5. (informal, chiefly US) Television.
  6. An electron tube or vacuum tube.

Verb

  1. To fit with a tube, or put in a tube.

Word family

  • tubed
  • tubelike
  • tubeless
  • tuba
  • tubular
  • tubing
  • tubule

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 h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Tube.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/tube. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

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