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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

tote.

A tote bag.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/təʊt/UK/toʊt/US
  1. A tote bag.

  2. A heavy burden.

  3. A kind of plastic box used for transporting goods.

  4. The principal handle of a handplane, for gripping the plane.

Where this word comes from

Possibly from Middle Low German tûte, tǖte (“horn, conical paper bag”), whence also German Tute (“horn, bugle”) and German Tüte (“bag, paper bag”). Compare also Scots tout (“drinking vessel”), Saterland Frisian Tüütje (“paper bag”), West Frisian tút (“spout, toot, kiss”), Dutch tuit (“horn, spout, nozzle”), Danish tud (“spout, nozzle”), Faroese strútur (“spout”), Icelandic stútur (“spout”), Norwegian and Swedish tut (“spout”), Old Norse tútna (“to be blown up”). Possibly ultimately from Proto-Germanic *tut(t)- (“to stick out, protrude”). Alternatively, from a Bantu language; compare Kongo tota (“to pick up”), Kimbundu tuta (“to carry, load”), Swahili tuta (“to pile, carry”).

verb/təʊt/UK/toʊt/US
  1. To carry or bear.

    Southern-US
Where this word comes from

Possibly from Middle Low German tûte, tǖte (“horn, conical paper bag”), whence also German Tute (“horn, bugle”) and German Tüte (“bag, paper bag”). Compare also Scots tout (“drinking vessel”), Saterland Frisian Tüütje (“paper bag”), West Frisian tút (“spout, toot, kiss”), Dutch tuit (“horn, spout, nozzle”), Danish tud (“spout, nozzle”), Faroese strútur (“spout”), Icelandic stútur (“spout”), Norwegian and Swedish tut (“spout”), Old Norse tútna (“to be blown up”). Possibly ultimately from Proto-Germanic *tut(t)- (“to stick out, protrude”). Alternatively, from a Bantu language; compare Kongo tota (“to pick up”), Kimbundu tuta (“to carry, load”), Swahili tuta (“to pile, carry”).

verb/təʊt/UK/toʊt/US
  1. To add up; to calculate a total.

Where this word comes from

Clipping of total, with e to distinguish from tot in writing.

noun/təʊt/UK/toʊt/US
  1. A pari-mutuel machine; a totalizator.

    Australia · UK
  2. Pari-mutuel betting.

    Australia · UK
Where this word comes from

Clipping of totalizator.

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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.