entry
token
/ˈtoʊkən/A sign, symbol, keepsake, or representative object
From Proto-Indo-European *deik- / *deyḱ- (to show).
from Old English tācn (“sign, symbol”)
from Middle English token, taken
Word Ancestry
from Old English tācn (“sign, symbol”)
from Middle English token, taken
Picture an early Germanic speaker pointing dramatically at something and saying, in effect, “Look—this tells you something.” That gesture lies behind the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European root *deik-, “to show,” which produced both the ancestor of token and the ancestor of teach. In Old English, tācn meant a sign or symbol, while the related verb could mean “show,” “declare,” or “warn”—instruction originally began as pointing things out. By about 1200, token had expanded from an observable sign into a physical reminder or keepsake; by the 1590s, it could mean a stamped, coin-like piece. The phrase “by the same token,” recorded from the mid-15th century, preserves the older idea of a token as evidence: a little verbal sign saying, “This supports what I just told you.”
The Story
Picture an early Germanic speaker pointing dramatically at something and saying, in effect, “Look—this tells you something.” That gesture lies behind the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European root *deik-, “to show,” which produced both the ancestor of token and the ancestor of teach. In Old English, tācn meant a sign or symbol, while the related verb could mean “show,” “declare,” or “warn”—instruction originally began as pointing things out. By about 1200, token had expanded from an observable sign into a physical reminder or keepsake; by the 1590s, it could mean a stamped, coin-like piece. The phrase “by the same token,” recorded from the mid-15th century, preserves the older idea of a token as evidence: a little verbal sign saying, “This supports what I just told you.”
Modern Usage
A deliberately stereotyped or supposedly representative person; also a game arcade coin, and in one entry a misspelling of Tolkien
Popularized by: South Park
Notable References
- South Park character called Token in Urban Dictionary entries
Kin & Kindred
From '*deik- / *deyḱ-'·to show, point out, instruct, teach
Cognates
Related words in other languages
Derived Terms
English words from this root
Sources
Etymonline
Urban Dictionary
Wiktionary