Where does “testy” come from?

Testy comes from Middle English testif, from Old French testu meaning stubborn, from Old French teste meaning head, from Latin testum, ultimately from Latin tergeo meaning to rub or wipe.

testy (English): Easily annoyed, irritable; Marked by impatience...

Definitions

  1. Easily annoyed, irritable; Marked by impatience...

Ancestry of “testy”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishtestiftesty; headstrong; obstinate
2Old Frenchtestu—
3Old French-usuffixed used to form adjectives from nouns
4Latin-utus—
5Latin-tusForms the past participle of verbs; Forms...
6Proto-Italic-tus—
7Proto-Indo-European-tusDerives action nouns from verb roots

Words derived from “testy”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tus →