Etymologically
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tube

Etymology and origin of the French word tube

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1460, Tournai
Borrowed from
Latin tubus
Ultimate origin
Latin (tubus)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin tubus
English tube
French tube

Pronunciation

Forms

tube m (plural tubes)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin tubus (“pipe, conduit, tube”),[2][3][4][5] of the same uncertain origin as Latin tuba (“trumpet”) (see tuba).[3] The cycling sense “racing tyre” is from English “single-tube”, and “le Tube” “the London Underground” follows English “tube”.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Tournai text of 1460 uses tube in the sense “vault”, a regional and now obsolete use;[2][3][6] Bloch and Wartburg record the word in 1453.[4]

Semantic evolution

The modern sense, a hollow cylinder through which gases or liquids pass, is attested from Cotgrave (1611).[2][3] It spread to optical instruments (1690), anatomy (tube intestinal, Buffon, 1775, tube digestif, 1830), botany, acoustics (tube acoustique, 1812) and physics (tube de Crookes, 1896, tube à néon, 1912, tube cathodique, 1939).[2][3] Delille (1800) used it poetically for a gun, and the 1860s slang for the gullet, the stomach and the top hat.[2][3] About 1930 it came to mean a squeezable container (tube de dentifrice, tubes de couleurs, Huysmans, 1883).[3][2]

In 20th-century slang a tube was a tip (1901), a telephone call (1952), and, from about 1960 a hit song, first in musicians' slang.[2][3][7] À pleins tubes “flat out” (1935) alludes to exhausts, and later to full volume (1947).[2][3]

Timeline

  • 1453 – Tube.[4]
  • 1460 – “Vault”, at Tournai.[2]
  • 1611 – “Pipe”, in Cotgrave.[2]
  • 1775 – Tube intestinal in Buffon.[2]
  • 1812 – Tube acoustique.[2]
  • 1883 – Tubes de couleurs in Huysmans.[2]
  • 1901 – A racing tyre; a tip.[2]
  • 1935 – À pleins tubes.[2]
  • 1960 – “Hit song”.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A tube, pipe: tube de verre, tube à essai.[8][1]
  2. A squeezable container: tube de dentifrice, tube de peinture.[3][8]
  3. (anatomy, botany) A tube: tube digestif, tube pollinique.[1][2]
  4. (electronics) A valve, tube: tube cathodique.[1][2]
  5. (familiar) A hit (song): le tube de l'été.[1][3]
  6. À pleins tubes: flat out; at full blast.[8][2]
  7. (cycling) A tubular racing tyre.[2][7]

Word family

  • tuber
  • tubage
  • tubulaire
  • tubard

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u 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 l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/2, 391b
  6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert

Borrowed into

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Tube.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/tube. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·