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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

toe.

Each of the five digits on the end of the human foot.

3 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/təʊ/Received-Pronunciation/toʊ/Canada, General-American/to/Scotland/toː/Wales
  1. Each of the five digits on the end of the human foot.

    countable · uncountable
  2. Each of the five digits on the end of the human foot. The equivalent part in an animal.

    countable · uncountable
  3. Each of the five digits on the end of the human foot. The part of a shoe or sock covering the toe.

    countable · uncountable
  4. Something resembling a toe, especially at the bottom or extreme end of something.

    countable · uncountable
  5. An advanced form of ballet primarily performed by women, wearing pointe shoes.

    uncountable
  6. An alignment of the wheels of a road vehicle, either positive (toe in), meaning the wheels are closer together at the front than at the back, or negative (toe out), the other way round.

    countable · uncountable
  7. The journal, or pivot, at the lower end of a revolving shaft or spindle, which rests in a step.

    countable · uncountable
  8. A lateral projection at one end, or between the ends, of a piece, such as a rod or bolt, by means of which it is moved.

    countable · uncountable
  9. A projection from the periphery of a revolving piece, acting as a cam to lift another piece.

    countable · uncountable
  10. The long side of an angled cut.

    countable · uncountable
  11. The upper end of the bit (cutting edge) of an axehead; as opposed to the heel (lower end).

    countable · uncountable
  12. A cameltoe.

    countable · slang · uncountable
  13. Speed, energy, vigor.

    Australia · New-Zealand · slang · uncountable
    to have a lot of toe
  14. A person.

    countable · figuratively · slang · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English to, from Old English tā, (Mercian) tāhe, from Proto-West Germanic *taihā, from Proto-Germanic *taihwǭ, from *tīhwaną (“to show, announce”), from Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- (“to show”). Cognate with Dutch teen, German Zehe, Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish tå, Faroese and Icelandic tá; also Old English teōn (“to accuse”), German zeihen (“to accuse, blame”); see also Hittite [script needed] (tekkuššāi), Latin dīcere (“to say”), digitus (“finger”), Ancient Greek δείκνυμι (deíknumi, “to point out, show”), Sanskrit दिदेष्टि (dídeṣṭi), दिशति (diśáti).

verb/təʊ/Received-Pronunciation/toʊ/Canada, General-American/to/Scotland/toː/Wales
  1. To furnish (a stocking, etc.) with a toe.

    transitive
  2. To touch, tap or kick with the toes.

    intransitive · transitive
  3. To touch or reach with the toes; to come fully up to.

    transitive
  4. To fasten (a piece) by driving a fastener at a near-45-degree angle through the side (of the piece) into the piece to which it is to be fastened.

    transitive
    The framers toed the irregular pieces into the sill.
  5. To mishit a golf ball with the toe of the club.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English to, from Old English tā, (Mercian) tāhe, from Proto-West Germanic *taihā, from Proto-Germanic *taihwǭ, from *tīhwaną (“to show, announce”), from Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- (“to show”). Cognate with Dutch teen, German Zehe, Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish tå, Faroese and Icelandic tá; also Old English teōn (“to accuse”), German zeihen (“to accuse, blame”); see also Hittite [script needed] (tekkuššāi), Latin dīcere (“to say”), digitus (“finger”), Ancient Greek δείκνυμι (deíknumi, “to point out, show”), Sanskrit दिदेष्टि (dídeṣṭi), दिशति (diśáti).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.