tiptoe

See also: tip-toe and Tiptoe

English

WOTD – 18 December 2015

Alternative forms

• tip-toe
• tippytoe, tippy-toe

Etymology

From Middle English tipto, typto; equivalent to tip +‎ toe.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈtɪpˌtəʊ/, [ˈtʰɪpˌtʰəʊ̯]
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈtɪpˌtoʊ/, [ˈtʰɪpˌtʰoʊ̯]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

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• Rhymes: -ɪptəʊ

Noun

tiptoe (plural tiptoes)

1. (usually in the plural) The tip of the toe.

Usage notes

Almost exclusively found in the expression on tiptoe or on one's tiptoes.

Derived terms

• atiptoe
• on tiptoe

 

Translations

tips of one's toes

• Arabic: رُؤُوسُ أَصَابِع m pl (ruʔūsu ʔaṣābiʕ)
• Bulgarian: върха на пръстите на краката (vǎrha na prǎstite na krakata)
• Catalan: punteta f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 腳尖／脚尖 (zh) (jiǎojiān)

• Czech: špička (cs) f
• Finnish: varpaankärjet pl
• French: pointe des pieds f
• Galician: palpexo m, punta do pé m
• German: Zehenspitze (de) f
• Hungarian: lábujjhegy (hu)
• Irish: barraicín (ga) m
• Italian: punta dei piedi
• Japanese: 爪先 (ja) (つまさき, tsumasaki)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: өлмий (mn) (ölmii)

• Okinawan: 爪先 (ちみさら, chimisara)
• Russian: цы́почки (ru) f pl (cýpočki), цы́пки (ru) f pl (cýpki) (dated), ко́нчики па́льцев ног m pl (kónčiki pálʹcev nog)
• Scottish Gaelic: corra-biod m
• Slovak: špička f
• Spanish: punta del pie f
• Swedish: tåspets (sv) c
• Welsh: blaen troed m

Adjective

tiptoe (not comparable)

1. Standing elevated, on or as if on the tips of one's toes.
   • c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v]:

     Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day / Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops.

   • 1955 October 20, J[ohn] R[onald] R[euel] Tolkien, “Minas Tirith”, in The Return of the King: Being the Third Part of The Lord of the Rings […], New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, published December 1978, →ISBN, book V, page 39:

     And ever as they talked Beregond was more amazed, and looked with greater wonder at the hobbit, swinging his short legs as he sat on the seat, or standing tiptoe upon it to peer over the sill at the lands below.

2. Moving carefully, quietly, warily or stealthily, on or as if on the tips of one's toes.
   • 1782, William Cowper, Expostulation:

     with tiptoe step

   • 1819, Lord Byron, The Prophecy of Dante:

     And stole along on tiptoe tread

Derived terms

• atiptoe

 

Verb

tiptoe (third-person singular simple present tiptoes, present participle tiptoeing, simple past and past participle tiptoed)

1. (intransitive) To walk quietly with only the tips of the toes touching the ground. [from late 14th C.]
   • 1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter II, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, page 8:

     We went tip-toeing along a path amongst the trees back towards the end of the widow's garden, stooping down so as the branches wouldn't scrape our heads.

   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter XIII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

     We tiptoed into the house, up the stairs and along the hall into the room where the Professor had been spending so much of his time.

   • 1929, “Tiptoe Through the Tulips”, Al Dubin (lyrics), Joe Burke (music), performed by Nick Lucas:

     Tiptoe through the window / By the window, that is where I'll be / Come tiptoe through the tulips with me / Tiptoe from your pillow / To the shadow of the willow tree / And tiptoe through the tulips with me.

Derived terms

• tiptoe around
• tiptoeingly
• tiptoer

 

Translations

to walk quietly

• Bulgarian: ходя на пръсти (hodja na prǎsti)
• Catalan: caminar de puntetes
• Czech: chodit po špičkách impf
• Dutch: op de tippen lopen
• Esperanto: iri piedpinte
• Estonian: kikivarvul käima
• Finnish: hiipiä varpaisillaan, sipsuttaa (fi), tepsuttaa
• French: marcher sur la pointe des pieds
• German: auf den Zehenspitzen gehen
• Greek: περπατώ ακροποδητί (perpató akropodití)
• Italian: camminare in punta di piedi
• Macedonian: оди на прсти (odi na prsti)
• Maori: hītekiteki, hītengitengi
• Polish: iść na palcach impf, pójść na palcach pf
• Portuguese: andar na ponta dos pés
• Quechua: hink'iy
• Romanian: merge pe vârfuri, merge tiptil
• Russian: ходи́ть на цы́почках (ru) (xodítʹ na cýpočkax)
• Slovak: ísť po špičkách impf
• Spanish: caminar de puntillas
• Swedish: gå på tå
• Tagalog: tumiyad
• Turkish: parmak ucunda yürümek
• Vietnamese: nhón (vi)
• Zazaki: gıst sero şiyen

Anagrams

• Petito