to

Alternative forms

• (dialectal) ter
• (contraction) t'
• (abbreviation) 2

Etymology

From Middle English to (“to”), from Old English tō (“to”), from Proto-Germanic *tō, *ta (“to”), from Proto-Indo-European *de, *do (“to”). Cognate with Scots tae, to (“to”), North Frisian to, tö, tu (“to”), Saterland Frisian tou (“to”), Low German to (“to”), Dutch toe (“to”), German zu (“to”), West Frisian ta (“to”). Non-Germanic cognates include Albanian ndaj (“towards”), Irish do (“to, for”), Breton da (“to, for”), Welsh i (“to, for”), Russian до (do, “to”).

Pronunciation

Stressed

• (UK) IPA^(key): /tuː/, [tʰu̟ː], enPR: to͞o
• (US) IPA^(key): /tu/, [tʰu̟], enPR: to͞o
• (General Australian, General New Zealand) IPA^(key): /tʉː/, [tʰʉː]
• Rhymes: -uː
• Homophones: too, two

Unstressed

• (US) IPA^(key): /tə/, /tʊ/
  • (after a vowel) IPA^(key): [ɾə], [ɾʊ]

Particle

to

1. A particle used for marking the following verb as an infinitive.

   I want to leave.

   He asked me what to do.

   I don’t know how to say it.

   I have places to go and people to see.

   • 1711, Alexander Pope:

     To err is human, to forgive divine.

   • c. 1600, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Act 3, Scene 1:

     To be, or not to be: that is the question: / […]

   • 2010 July, Associated Press, headline :

     Odds are, BP to get new CEO this year

   • 2011 April 10, Alistair Magowan, “Aston Villa 1 - 0 Newcastle”, in BBC Sport‎:

     To that end, the home supporters were in good voice to begin with, but it was Newcastle who started the game in the ascendancy, with Barton putting a diving header over the top from Jose Enrique's cross.

2. As above, with the verb implied.

   "Did you visit the museum?" "I wanted to, but it was closed."

   If he hasn't read it yet, he ought to.

3. A particle used to create phrasal or prepositional verbs.

   I have to do laundry today.

   She looks to him for guidance.

Preposition

to

1. Indicating destination: In the direction of, and arriving at.

   We are walking to the shop.

   • 2013 September 28, Kenan Malik, "London Is Special, but Not That Special," New York Times (retrieved 28 September 2013):

     Driven by a perceived political need to adopt a hard-line stance, Mr. Cameron’s coalition government has imposed myriad new restrictions, the aim of which is to reduce net migration to Britain to below 100,000.

2. Used to indicate purpose.

   He devoted himself to education.

   They drank to his health.

3. Indicating a relationship between an adjective and an infinitive.

   The log was heavy to lift.

   I chose to change my mind.

4. Used to indicate result of action.

   His face was beaten to a pulp.

5. Used after an adjective to indicate its application.

   similar to ..., relevant to ..., pertinent to ..., I was nice to him, he was cruel to her, I am used to walking.

6. (obsolete) As a.

   With God to friend (with God as a friend);   with The Devil to fiend (with the Devil as a foe);   lambs slaughtered to lake (lambs slaughtered as a sacrifice);   took her to wife (took her as a wife);   was sold to slave (was sold as a slave).

7. (arithmetic) Used to indicate ratios; in informal use the ratios are not reduced to smallest terms.

   one to one = 1:1

   ten to one = 10:1.

   • 2012 April 22, Sam Sheringham, “Liverpool 0-1 West Brom”, in BBC Sport‎:

     In total, the Reds had 28 shots to their opponent's nine, and 15 corners to the Baggies' three.

8. (arithmetic) Used to indicate that the preceding term is to be raised to the power of the following value; indicates exponentiation.

   Three squared or three to the second power is nine.

   Three to the power of two is nine.

   Three to the second is nine.

9. Used to indicate the indirect object.

   I gave the book to him.

10. (time) Preceding.

    ten to ten = 9:50; We're going to leave at ten to (the hour).

11. (Canada, Britain, Newfoundland, West Midlands) At.

    Stay where you're to and I'll come find you, b'y.

Adverb

to (not comparable)

1. Toward a closed, touching or engaging position.

   Please push the door to.

   • 1913, D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, chapter 12

     He went in his room, pushed the door to, without fastening the latch.

2. (nautical) Into the wind.
3. Misspelling of too.

See also

• come to
• heave to
• lean-to
• set-to
• to and fro

• For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:to.

References

• Andrea Tyler and Vyvyan Evans, "Spatial particles of orientation", in The Semantics of English Prepositions: Spatial Scenes, Embodied Meaning and Cognition, Cambridge University Press, 2003, 0-521-81430 8

Anagrams

• OT, ot-

Etymology

From Latin tuus.

Adjective

to

1. your

Noun

to

1. water

References

• Sharon Hargus, Wisuwit’en Grammar: Phonetics, Phonology, Morphology (2007), page 43

Noun

to

1. water

References

• Naoyoshi Ogawa, English-Favorlang vocabulary (2003)
• S. Tsuchida, A Comparative Vocabulary of Austronesian Languages of Sinicized Ethnic Groups in Taiwan, Part I: Western Taiwan, Memoirs of the Faculty of Letters, No. 7 (1982)

Etymology

From Proto-Bahnaric *tɔʔ, from Proto-Mon-Khmer *tɔʔ. Cognates include Vietnamese đó, Khmer ដ៏ (dɑɑ).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɔː/

Pronoun

to

1. that, there

Noun

to

1. stiff porridge

Etymology

First attested 1575, borrowed from Latin tonus, from Ancient Greek τόνος (tónos)^[1]. Compare the doublet tro, inherited through a Vulgar Latin variant.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈtɔ/

Noun

to m (plural tons)

1. (music) tone (specific pitch)
2. (linguistics) tone (pitch of a word)
3. tone or shade of a color

References

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

Pronoun

to n

1. it, this, that

Etymology

From Latin tuus. Compare Italian tuo, Romanian tău, Friulian to, French ton, Spanish tu.

Pronoun

to m (feminine toa)

1. your; second-person masculine singular possessive pronoun

See also

• mi
• nuester
• vestro

Etymology 1

From Old Norse tveir, from Proto-Germanic *twai, from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ (“two”).

Etymology 2

From Old Norse þvá (“wash”), from Proto-Germanic *þwahaną.

Noun

to (accusative singular to-on, plural to-oj, accusative plural to-ojn)

1. The name of the Latin-script letter T/t.

See also

• (Latin-script letter names) litero; a, bo, co, ĉo, do, e, fo, go, ĝo, ho, ĥo, i, jo, ĵo, ko, lo, mo, no, o, po, ro, so, ŝo, to, u, ŭo, vo, zo

Noun

to

1. antelope
2. (anatomy) ear
3. father-in-law
4. mortar
5. mountain

Verb

to

1. to crush
2. to pound

Etymology

Abbreviation of torstai ("Thursday").

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈto/

Abbreviation

to

1. Thu (abbreviation of Thursday)

Etymology

From Latin tuus.

Pronoun

to (second-person singular possessive of masculine singular, of feminine singular tô, of masculine plural tiei, of feminine plural tôs)

1. (used attributively) your, thy; of yours, of thine

   che al sedi santifiât il to nom, che al vegni il to ream, — "Your kingdom come, your will be done," (third and fourth sentences of Lord's Prayer)

2. (used predicatively) yours, thine
3. (used substantively) yours, thine; the thing belonging to you/ thee

See also

• lôr
• gno
• nestri
• so
• vuestri

Article

to

1. feminine definite article

   Mutu to ― The woman

Noun

to

1. language

References

• Mary E. Kropp Dakubu, The Languages of Ghana

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /to(ː)/

Noun

to

1. a body of water, such as a lake or ocean

References

• The Phonology of the Hupa Language, part 1: The Individual Sounds, volume 5, by Roland Burrage Dixon, Samuel Alfred Barrett, Washington Matthews, Bill Ray (using the older orthography "tō")
• Victor Golla, Hupa Language Dictionary Second Edition (1996), page 105 (to)

Pronoun

to

1. (demonstrative) this (thing)

Noun

to

1. eye

References

• Čestmír Loukotka, ‎Johannes Wilbert (editor), Classification of South American Indian Languages (1968, Los Angeles: Latin American Studies Center, University of California), page(s) 162

Romanization

to

1. Rōmaji transcription of と
2. Rōmaji transcription of ト

Alternative forms

• tū

Noun

to

1. water

Reference

• Franz Boas, Pline Early Goddard, Vocabulary of an Athapascan dialect of the State of Washington, IJAL volume III, pages 39-45 (1924-1925)

Pronoun

to

1. that; accusative singular masculine form of tas
2. with that; instrumental singular masculine form of tas
3. of that; genitive plural masculine form of tas
4. that; accusative singular feminine form of tas
5. with that; instrumental singular feminine form of tas
6. of that; genitive plural feminine form of tas

Pronoun

to

1. that; genitive singular masculine form of tas

Etymology

From French tu (“you”, singular informal).

Pronoun

to

1. you (singular), thou

   To té paʼlé gra. / To te pale gra.

   You spoke with an accent. (literally: "You had spoken thick.")

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [tɔ]

Pronoun

to n

1. this

Determiner

to

1. nominative neuter singular of ten
2. accusative neuter singular of ten

Etymology

From French tu

Pronoun

to (objective twa, formal ou)

1. you (second-person singular nominative personal pronoun)

See also

Etymology

From Old Norse tvá, accusative case of tveir, from Proto-Germanic *twai, from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tuː/

Numeral

to

1. (cardinal) two

References

• “to” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Etymology

From Old Norse tvá, accusative case of tveir, from Proto-Germanic *twai, from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tuː/

Numeral

to

1. (cardinal) two

References

• “to” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Pronoun

to

1. that (which is male)

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *tō, *ta (“to”), from Proto-Indo-European *de, *do (“to”). Cognate with Old Saxon tō (“to”), Old High German zuo (“to”), Old Irish do.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /toː/

Preposition

tō

1. to, into
2. at
3. (grammar) used to mark the infinitive (supine) of the verb

   tō drīfenne (“to drive”)

Adverb

tō

1. besides
2. in addition, also, too; moreover
3. to an excessive degree; too

Etymology

Proto-Germanic *tō, whence also Old English tō and Old High German zuo

Preposition

tō

1. to

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *to, from Proto-Indo-European *tód

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɔ/

• Audio

  (file)

Pronoun

to

1. (demonstrative) this (nearby, neuter)

See also

• ta f
• ten m

Further reading

• to in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Noun

to

1. water

References

• K. A. McElhanon, Selepet grammar (1972)
• William A. Foley, The Papuan Languages of New Guinea (1986, →ISBN, page 257

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *to.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtóː/
• Tonal orthography: tọ̑

Pronoun

to

1. this (neuter)

Noun

to

1. (Euchre Creek) water

References

• Victor Golla, Tututni (Oregon Athapaskan), International Journal of American Linguistics, volume 42:3 (July 1976), pages 217-227

Etymology

Compare Thai โต (dtoo), Lao ໂຕ (tō), Lü ᦷᦎ (ṫo).

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [tɔ˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [tɔ˧˧]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [tɔ˧˧]

Adjective

to (fully reduplicated form to to)

1. big, large
2. great, considerable
3. loud

Etymology

From Proto-Brythonic *toɣ (“covering”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /toː/

Noun

to m (plural toeau)

1. roof

Mutation

Etymology 1

From Old Norse tveir, from Proto-Germanic *twai, from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁.

Etymology 2

From Old Norse tó (“patch of grass”).

Etymology

Related to Persian تو‎ (to).

Pronoun

to

1. (informal) you (sg., acc.)