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toutefois

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Etymology and origin of the French word toutefois

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
c. 1180 Chrétien de Troyes, Yvain More words from the 12th century
Ultimate origins
Latin tottusProto-Italic *wik-
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
French tout
French toutefois
From the same root
French partout ← tout
French surtout ← tout
French toujours ← tout

Pronunciation

Forms

toutefois[1] Old French totes foiz, toutefoiz;[2][3] Middle French touteffois, toutesfois.[2][3] The spelling toutefois is found in Amyot (1559).[3]

Etymology

It is formed from French tout + fois, both words in the plural, “every time”.[2][4][5][3][1] The second element goes back to Latin vicēs (“succession, turns”).[6]

In Old French the sense “however” was expressed by totesvoies (about 1175), formed in the same way with voie (“way”);[2][7][1] Littré gives the Norman form tutes veies.[2][7][1] The modern word took its place, while Italian tuttavia, Spanish todavía and Portuguese todavia kept the type with “way”.[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as a conjunctional phrase, totes les foiz que “every time that”, in Chrétien de Troyes' Yvain (about 1180).[2] The adverb meaning “however, on the other hand” appears in a 1284 manuscript of Brunetto Latini's Trésor, where another manuscript has totesvoies.[2]

Semantic evolution

The phrase first had a temporal sense, “every time that”, and about 1230 “as soon as”;[2] the Gallo-Romance compound was also used about 1280 for “always”.[3] The adversative adverb, “all reasons considered and in spite of them”, became established in the 15th century: Bloch and Wartburg, the Robert and the GLLF date it to 1456, its sense now logical rather than temporal.[6][4][3][8]

The conjunction toutefois que “each time that” (1370) has gone out of use, surviving only in classical or dialect use.[8][3]

Timeline

  • c. 1180 – Totes les foiz que “every time that” appears in Yvain.[2]
  • c. 1230 – Toutes les fois que is used for “as soon as”.[2]
  • 1284 – A manuscript of Brunetto Latini's Trésor uses toutefoiz “however”.[2]
  • 1370 – The conjunction toutefois que is recorded.[8]
  • 1456 – Toutesfois in the modern sense.[6][4][3]
  • 1559 – Amyot writes toutefois.[3]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. however, nevertheless: marks a restriction or a slight correction to what has just been said.[5][2][3]
  2. Si toutefois: if indeed, provided that.[5][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  4. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
Cite this entry

“Toutefois.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/toutefois. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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