Etymologically
Log in

tube

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 17 October 2026 at 21:17. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

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