Etymologically
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tunnel

Etymology and origin of the English word tunnel

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1440
Borrowed from
Old French tonel
Ultimate origin
Medieval Latin (tunna)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈtʌn(ə)l/[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English tonel, borrowed from Old French tonel (“cask”) or tonnelle (“net”), a diminutive of tonne (“tun, cask”),[2][3][4] perhaps from the same source as Old English tunne (see tun);[3][2] MWU traces it through Medieval Latin tunna (“barrel”) to a Celtic origin.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A funnel-shaped net for catching birds: probably before 1425 in Barnhart, the early 15th century in Etymonline, about 1440 in the OED.[2][3][6]

Semantic evolution

The shaft or flue of a chimney (1508), a pipe or tube (1540s) and a funnel are 16th-century senses.[6][3][4] The underground passage is from 1765, about five years after the first modern tunnel was dug, on the Grand Trunk Canal in England;[2][6] Etymonline dates it from the 1660s.[3] The earlier native word for such a passage was mine.[2][3] French borrowed the sense back as tunnel in 1878.[3] An animal's burrow is also a tunnel.[7][3] The verb, to dig a tunnel, is from 1795,[3] and tunnel vision is a 20th-century phrase.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 1440 – a net for birds.[6]
  • 1508 – a chimney flue.[6]
  • 1765 – an underground passage.[2][6]
  • 1795 – the verb.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. An underground passage, especially one for a road or railway through a hill or under water.
  2. An animal's burrow.
  3. (dialect) A funnel.

Verb

  1. To dig a tunnel, or make a way by digging.

Word family

  • tunneler
  • tunnellike
  • Chunnel
  • subtunnel
  • carpal tunnel syndrome
  • tunnel disease
  • tunnel of love
  • tunnel vision
  • tun
  • ton
  • tonnage
  • funnel

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Tunnel.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/tunnel. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·