Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “texting” come from?

Texting comes from English text, derived from Old French texte, from Latin textus, the past participle of texere meaning to weave, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European teḱ-.

texting (English): present participle of text; the use of a mobile...

Definitions

  1. present participle of text; the use of a mobile...

Ancestry of “texting”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishtextA writing consisting of multiple glyphs,...
2Middle Englishtext—
3Old Frenchtextetext
4Medieval Latintextusthe Scriptures, text, treatise; text
5Latintextuswoven, having been woven; texture, structure;...
6Latin-tusForms the past participle of verbs; Forms...
7Proto-Italic-tus—
8Proto-Indo-European-tusDerives action nouns from verb roots

Words derived from “texting”

  • multitexting
  • sex-texting
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tus →