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te

Etymology and origin of the French word te

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
late 10th century, Passion de Clermont
Inherited from
Latin tu via Old French
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*twé)

Pronunciation

Forms

te (t’ before a vowel or mute h).[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French te, inherited from Latin tē (“you”), the accusative of “tū”, in unstressed position; the stressed form of the same Latin word is toi.[2][4][3][5] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *twé, the accusative of Proto-Indo-European *túh₂ (“you”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Passion de Clermont (late 10th century) has te as a direct object: nos te laudam “we praise you”.[6]

Semantic evolution

By the late 10th century te was also an indirect object, placed before a direct object pronoun (non t'o permet “does not allow it to you”); from 1174–87 it is found after the third-person pronoun (qui les te bailla ? “who gave them to you?”).[6] The ethic dative (je te lui ai envoyé un coup de pied) is familiar.[3][2]

Timeline

  • late 10th century – Te in the Passion de Clermont.[6]
  • c. 1050 – Elided t’ in the Vie de saint Alexis.[6]
  • 1174–87 – Les te in Chrétien de Troyes.[6]

Meanings

Pronoun

  1. you: second person singular direct object pronoun: je t'aime.[1][2]
  2. (To) you: indirect object: je te donnerai, cela peut t'être utile.[1][2]
  3. Yourself: reflexive: tu te lèves.[1]
  4. (familiar) Expresses the interest of the person spoken to: et je te frotte, et je te brique.[2][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/1, 148a
  5. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ a b c d e Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Te.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/te. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·