Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “tailed” come from?

Tailed comes from Middle English tayled, formed with the Middle English past participle suffix -ed (from Old English -od, from Proto-Germanic -ōdaz), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European deḱ- meaning to take or accept.

tailed (English): simple past tense and past participle of tail;...

Definitions

  1. simple past tense and past participle of tail;...

Ancestry of “tailed”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishtayledtailed; Having a part which drags on the floor
2Middle EnglishtaylA tail; The back side or reverse of a creature; A...
3Old Englishtæġltail
4Proto-Germanictagląhair; ponytail; hair of a tail; tail
5Proto-Indo-Europeandoḱ-hair of the tail
6Proto-Indo-Europeandeḱ-take; perceive

Words derived from “tailed”

  • swallowtailed
  • tailedness
  • sharptailed
  • fantailed
  • pintailed
  • untailed
  • zone-tailed hawk
  • short-tailed hawk
  • multitailed
  • stiff-tailed duck
  • fat-tailed
Every word from Proto-Indo-European deḱ- →