Where does “tout le monde” come from?

tout le monde (French) comes from French tout, from Middle French tout, from Old French tôt, from Vulgar Latin tōttus, from Latin tōtus, from Latin tot, from Proto-Indo-European toti, from Proto-Indo-European só — this; that.

tout le monde (French): everyone, everybody

Definitions

  1. everyone, everybody

Ancestry of “tout le monde”, step by step

tout le monde traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.

via French tout

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Frenchtoutwhole, entirety, total; all; everything
2Middle Frenchtoutall; all of; all; completely; totally; entirely
3Old Frenchtôtall
4Vulgar Latintōttus—
5Latintōtuswhole, all, entire, total, complete, every part
6Latintotso many
7Proto-Indo-Europeantotiso many
8Proto-Indo-Europeansóthis; that

via French monde

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Frenchmondeworld; people; good heavens
2Old Frenchmondethe world; clean; pure
3Latinmundusclean, pure; neat; nice, fine, elegant,...
4Proto-Indo-EuropeanmewH-to wash, wet; to make wet, wash; wet

via French le

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Frenchlethe; Used before abstract nouns; not translated...
2Middle Frenchlethe
3Old Frenchléwide; width

Words derived from “tout le monde”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European só →Every word from Proto-Indo-European toti →Every word from Latin tot →