toux (French)
Where does "toux" come from?
The French word 'toux' traces its roots back to the Proto-Indo-European concept of a sudden strike or push, represented by the root *(s)tew-. This evolved into the Latin noun 'tussis', which captured the percussive, jarring nature of an involuntary cough. Passing through Old French as 'tous', the term shifted from its original sense of a physical impact to describe the bodily reaction we recognize today.
Full etymology tree
- toux (French), 'cough'
- inherited tous (Old French)
- inherited tussem (Latin), 'accusative singular of tussis'
- derived tussis (Latin), 'cough'
- inherited *tussis (Proto-Italic)
- inherited *tud-ti-s (Proto-Indo-European)
- derived *(s)tewd- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to push, to hit'
- derived *(s)tew- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to push, to hit'
- derived *(s)tewd- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to push, to hit'
- inherited *tud-ti-s (Proto-Indo-European)
- inherited *tussis (Proto-Italic)
- derived tussis (Latin), 'cough'
- inherited tussem (Latin), 'accusative singular of tussis'
- inherited tous (Old French)
Ancestors
- tussis (Latin)
Descendants and derived words
- toux grasse (French)
- toux sèche (French)
Updated June 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris