till

Pronunciation

• enPR: tĭl, IPA^(key): /tɪl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪl

Etymology 1

From Middle English til, from Northern Old English til, from or akin to Old Norse til (“to, till”); both from Proto-Germanic *til (“to, toward”), from Proto-Germanic *tilą (“planned point in time”).^[1][2] Not a shortening of until; rather, until comes from till with the prefix un- (“against; toward; up to”) also found in unto. Cognate with Old Frisian til (“to, till”), Danish til (“to”), Swedish till (“to, till”), Icelandic til (“to, till”). Also related to Old English til (“good”), German Ziel (“goal”), Gothic 𐍄𐌹𐌻 (til, “something fitting or suitable”).

Etymology 2

From Middle English tylle (“till”), possibly from Middle English tillen (“to draw”) from Old English *tyllan (“to draw, attract”) (as in betyllan (“to lure, decoy”) and fortyllan (“to draw away”); related to *tollian > Middle English tollen). Cognate with Albanian ndjell (“I lure, attract”).

Alternatively, Middle English tylle is from Anglo-Norman tylle (“compartment”), from Old French tille (“compartment, shelter on a ship”), from Old Norse þilja (“plank”).

Etymology 3

From Middle English tilyen, from Old English tilian.

Etymology 4

Unknown, but possibly via etymology 3 (the verb) because alluvial deposit is used as a fertilizer.

Noun

English Wikipedia has an article on:

till

Wikipedia

till

1. glacial drift consisting of a mixture of clay, sand, pebbles and boulders
2. (dialect) manure or other material used to fertilize land

Derived terms

• glacial till

Translations

glacial drift

Chinese: Mandarin: 冰碛物 (zh) Danish: moræne (da) Estonian: moreen Finnish: moreeni (fi) French: till (fr) m, tillite f Italian: materiale alluvionale m

manure used as fertilizer

Estonian: sõnnik Finnish: lanta (fi) French: amendement (fr) m Italian: letame (it) m, stallatico (it) m

Etymology 5

From Middle English tylle; shortened from lentile (English lentil).

References

General

• “till”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “till”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• Until, Till, 'Til, or 'Till? in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, 11 June 2019.

Footnotes

Anagrams

• it'll, lilt, lit'l

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtilː(ʲ)/, [ˈtʲilː(ʲ)]
• Rhymes: -ilː, -ilʲː
• Hyphenation: till

Etymology 1

Estonian Wikipedia has an article on:

till

Wikipedia ^et

From Middle Low German dille. First attested in 1660.

Etymology 2

Possibly derived from the same stem seen in many dialectal bird names: tillutaja, tillutis, tilder (“shank (Tringa)”). It's not uncommon for bird names to become euphemistic terms for genitalia, cf. kull (“hawk”), English cock.

Another theory suggests this term is a hypocoristic variant of the stem seen in tila (“spout”), which in some dialects might have referred to a young boy's genitalia.

Etymology 3

Onomatopoeic.

References

• till in Sõnaveeb (Eesti Keele Instituut)
• “till”, in [EKSS] Eesti keele seletav sõnaraamat [Descriptive Dictionary of the Estonian Language] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2009
• Jüri Viikberg (2016) “till”, in [ASL] Alamsaksa laensõnad eesti keeles [Low German Loanwords in the Estonian Language] (in Estonian) (online dictionary)

Verb

till

1. Alternative form of tillen (“to enthrall”)

Etymology

From Middle Irish tillid, alteration of Old Irish fillid (compare Irish fill).^[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃʰiːʎ/
• (Lewis) IPA^(key): [t͡ʃʰəiʎ]

Verb

till (past thill, future tillidh, verbal noun tilleadh, past participle tillte)

1. to return, come back
2. to relapse

   Thill ris. ― He has got a relapse.

References

Further reading

• MacLennan, Malcolm (1925) A Pronouncing and Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language, Edinburgh: J. Grant, →OCLC

Alternative forms

• til (archaic)

Etymology

From Old Swedish til, from Old Norse til, from Proto-Germanic *til (compare *tilą (“goal”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɪl/

• Audio:

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /tɪ/ (see the usage notes for the preposition below)
• IPA^(key): /teː/

Preposition

till

1. to

   Välkommen till Sverige! ― Welcome to Sweden!

   Ge den till mig! ― Give it to me!

   Vi behöver två till fem nya datorer. ― We need two to five new computers.

2. for

   en bra TV till ett bra pris. ― a good TV for a good price

   en present till min syster. ― a present for my sister

   pengar till resan ― money for the trip

   Vad vill du ha till middag? ― What do you want for dinner?

3. with

   Jag tar mjölk till mitt kaffe. ― I take milk with my coffee.

4. at (the next, timewise)

   Till sommaren ska vi åka på semester till Island.

   This (upcoming) summer, we're going on vacation to Iceland.

5. of

   en kompis till mig. ― a friend of mine.

Adverb

till

1. another, more; in addition

   Jag vill ha en/två till

   I want another one / two more

   Jag ska vara här en vecka till

   I'll be here for another week

2. Expresses that the action of the verb is sudden and brief, when used with certain verbs. The examples below are for illustration and not comprehensive. Fairly productive for verbs where suddenness and short duration make intuitive sense.

   Han skrattade ― He laughed

   Han skrattade till ― He chuckled

   Han hoppade ― He jumped

   Han hoppade till ― He flinched

   Han somnade ― He fell asleep

   Han somnade till ― He nodded off

   Han slog honom ― He hit him

   Han slog till honom ― He gave him a punch (fairly synonymous, but makes it clear that it's a single punch and sounds a bit more intense)

   Han syntes ― He was visible

   Han syntes till ― He was spotted

3. Expresses that something is (completely or partially) changed or created through the action of the verb, similar to English up. Sometimes more or less redundant like in English, with a similar difference in tone.

   Synonym: (sometimes) för-

   ful ― ugly

   fula till ― ugly up (uglify)

   fula till något ― ugly something up

   laga till en måltid ― cook up a meal ("till" skippable, like in English)

   snida till en träfigur ― carve "up" (in the same sense as for the meal) a wooden figure ("till" skippable)

   trä ― wood

   träa till ― "wood up" (make woodier or the like, as an ad-hoc formation, which usually sound colloquial like in English)

   1. Expresses that the action of the verb brings the target of the verb toward (and usually to) a closed state.

      Synonym: (to a closed state) igen

      Antonym: upp

      knäppa till jackan ― button up one's jacket ("till" skippable, like in English)

      täppa till ett hål ― plug (up) a hole

      stänga till dörren

      shut / close (up) the door ("till" skippable – emphasizes the result (that the door becomes shut), similar to "up")

      Grinden står lite öppen. Kan du stänga till den?

      The gate is a bit open. Can you close it? ("till" skippable)

      Stäng till dörren lite! ― Close the door a bit! (leaving it ajar)

4. (in some phrasal verbs) in(to) existence

   bli till

   come into being ("become into existence")

   komma till

   come about ("come into existence")

   finnas till

   exist ("be in existence")

5. to a toward orientation

   vända andra kinden till (idiom)

   turn the other cheek [toward]

References

• till in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• till in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• till in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

Noun

till (definite form till gi)

1. jackal

Preposition

till

1. Alternative form of del
   • 1867, “THE WEDDEEN O BALLYMORE”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 6, page 96:

     To our pleoughès an mulk-pylès till a neeshte holy die.

     To our ploughs and our milk-pails till the next holiday.

   • 1867, CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 116, lines 14-15:

     till ee zin o'oure daies be var aye be ee-go t'glade.

     until the sun of our lives be gone down the dark valley (of death).

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 96