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to

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

See also: Appendix:Variations of "to"
Languages (64)
Translingual • English
Abinomn • Asturian • Babine-Witsuwit'en • Babuza • Bahnar • Bambara • Catalan • Czech • Dalmatian • Danish • Esperanto • Ewe • Finnish • French • Friulian • Fula • Galician • Garifuna • Gonja • Gun • Hupa • Ido • Itene • Japanese • Kangean • Kashubian • Kituba • Kongo • Kwalhioqua-Tlatskanai • Lashi • Latvian • Lithuanian • Louisiana Creole • Lower Sorbian • Mauritian Creole • Middle English • Mohawk • Norwegian Bokmål • Norwegian Nynorsk • Old Czech • Old English • Old High German • Old Polish • Old Saxon • Plautdietsch • Polish • Portuguese • Selepet • Serbo-Croatian • Silesian • Slovak • Slovene • Tocharian B • Tooro • Tututni • Uzbek • Vietnamese • Votic • Welsh • Yola • Yoruba • Zazaki
Page categories

Translingual

Symbol

to

  1. (international standards) ISO 639-1 language code for Tongan.

English

Alternative forms

  • (dialectal) ter
  • (contraction) t'
  • (abbreviation) 2

Etymology 1

From Middle English to, from Old English tō, from Proto-Germanic *tō ~ *ta, from Proto-Indo-European *de ~ *do (“to”). Cognate with Scots tae, to (“to”), North Frisian to, tö, tu (“to”), Saterland Frisian tou (“to”), Low German to (“to”), Dutch toe, te (“to”), German zu (“to”), West Frisian ta (“to”). Non-Germanic cognates include Albanian ndaj (“towards”), Irish do (“to, for”), Breton da (“to, for”), Welsh i (“to, for”), Russian до (do, “to”). Doublet of too.

Pronunciation

Stressed

Unstressed

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Particularly: "(US, after a vowel) (before a vowel) (US, after a vowel)"

Particle

to

  1. A particle used for marking the following verb as an infinitive.
    I want to leave.
    He asked me what to do.
    I have places to go and people to see.
    To err is human.
    Who am I to criticise? I've done worse things myself.
    • 1711 May, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Criticism, London: […] W[illiam] Lewis […]; and sold by W[illiam] Taylor […], T[homas] Osborn[e] […], and J[ohn] Graves […], →OCLC:
      To err, is human; to forgive, divine.
    • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
      To be, or not to be: that is the question: / […]
    • 2010 July, “Archived copy”, in Associated Press‎, archived from the original on 5 July 2010, headline:
      Odds are, BP to get new CEO this year
    • 2011 April 10, Alistair Magowan, “Aston Villa 1 - 0 Newcastle”, in BBC Sport‎:
      To that end, the home supporters were in good voice to begin with, but it was Newcastle who started the game in the ascendancy, with Barton putting a diving header over the top from Jose Enrique's cross.
  2. As above, with the verb implied.
    "Did you visit the museum?" "I wanted to, but it was closed."
    If he hasn't read it yet, he ought to.
  3. Used to indicate an obligation on the part of, or a directive given to, the subject.
    You are to go to the store and buy a bottle of milk.
  4. (expressing purpose) In order to.
    I went to the shops to buy some bread.
Derived terms
Translations
A user suggests that this English entry be cleaned up, giving the reason: “Sense 1 is not the English infinitive morpheme, that would be -∅. The sentence "I could eat." contains a verb in the infinitive but no to. Rather, to is a particle that is used in conjunction with an already (zero-)marked infinitive. The box below, however, seems to contain a random mix of translations of the infinitive marker -∅ (e.g. German -en, Romanian -a, Turkish -mek) and the particle to (e.g. German zu, Romanian a).”
Please see the discussion on Requests for cleanup(+) or the talk page for more information and remove this template after the problem has been dealt with.
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Preposition

to

  1. In the direction of; towards.
    She looked to the heavens.
  2. Indicating destination or final position: In the direction of, so as to arrive at or reach.
    We are walking to the shop.
    The water came right to the top of this wall.
    The coconut fell to the ground.
    • 2013 September 28, Kenan Malik, “London Is Special, but Not That Special”, in New York Times, retrieved 28 September 2013:
      Driven by a perceived political need to adopt a hard-line stance, Mr. Cameron’s coalition government has imposed myriad new restrictions, the aim of which is to reduce net migration to Britain to below 100,000.
  3. Used to indicate the target or recipient of an action.
    I gave the book to him.
    I spoke to him earlier.
    He devoted himself to education.
    They drank to his health.
  4. So as to contact, press against, impact, etc.
    I fixed the notice to the wall.
    Put your shoulder to the door.
  5. So as to become or reach: indicating a terminal state resulting from an action.
    His face was beaten to a pulp.
    Whisk the mixture to a smooth consistency.
  6. So as to bring about or elicit (an effect or outcome).
    He made several bad-taste jokes to groans from the audience.
    I tried complaining, but it was to no effect.
    To everyone's great relief, the tuneless carol singers finally ceased their warbling.
  7. Used after an adjective to indicate its application.
    similar to ..., relevant to ..., pertinent to ..., I was nice to him, he was cruel to her, I am used to walking.
  8. Indicating a degree or level reached.
    It was to a large extent true.
    We manufacture these parts to a very high tolerance.
  9. Used to describe what something consists of or contains.
    Anyone could do this job; there's nothing to it.
    There's a lot of sense to what he says.
    The name has a nice ring to it.
  10. Denotes the end of a range.
    It takes 2 to 4 weeks to process typical applications.
  11. (obsolete) As a.
    With God to friend (with God as a friend);   with The Devil to fiend (with the Devil as a foe);   lambs slaughtered to lake (lambs slaughtered as a sacrifice);   took her to wife (took her as a wife);   was sold to slave (was sold as a slave).
  12. Used to indicate a ratio or comparison; compared to, as against.
    one to one = 1:1
    ten to one = 10:1.
    I have ten dollars to your four.
    The odds on that horse are seven to two.
    • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene iii:
      The hoſt of Xerxes, which by fame is ſaid
      To drinke the mightie Parthian Araris,
      Was but a handfull to that we will haue.
    • 2012 April 22, Sam Sheringham, “Liverpool 0-1 West Brom”, in BBC Sport‎:
      In total, the Reds had 28 shots to their opponent's nine, and 15 corners to the Baggies' three.
  13. (arithmetic) Used to indicate that the preceding term is to be raised to the power of the following value; indicates exponentiation.
    Three squared or three to the second power is nine.
    Three to the power of two is nine.
    Three to the second is nine.
  14. (time) Preceding (the stated hour).
    What's the time? – It's quarter to four in the afternoon (or 3:45 pm).
    Antonym: past
    1. (informal) With implied hour.
      It’s quarter to (3:45, or 4:45, or whatever time ending in 45 would make the most sense)
  15. According to.
    Our holiday did not go to plan.
  16. (Canada, Cornwall (UK), Newfoundland, Wales, West Midlands (UK)) At.
    Stay where you're to and I'll come find you, b'y.
    Where are you to?
    • 1867, Cornish Tales, in prose and verse by various authors, page 33:
      "What's that to you?" said Trevool, rather sharply, "worn't I to a berrin? […]
  17. Used more-or-less idiomatically with various verbs: keep to the left, agree to the proposal, attend to the matter, etc. See the individual entries.
Usage notes

In the sense of "as a", it is a fossil word (Standard English only), found usually only in obsolete set phrases like: "to take a woman to wife", "to have someone to friend", "to have something to birthright" etc. In northern dialects,(clarification of this definition is needed) where it is rare but still in common use, it is often used in combination with with.

Derived terms
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
See also

Adverb

to (not comparable)

  1. (regionalism) Toward a closed, touching or engaging position.
    Synonyms: closed, shut
    Antonyms: open, ajar
    Please push the door to.
  2. (nautical) Into the wind.
  3. Misspelling of too.
Usage notes

The sense "toward a closed, touching or engaging position" is a regionalism found in various parts of the UK and US.

Translations
Translations
See also

Etymology 2

From Hindi तो (to).

Pronunciation

Particle

to

  1. (mild intensifier, colloquial, chiefly North India) a filler word common amongst urban Indians.
    I am to so bored right now.

References

  • Andrea Tyler and Vyvyan Evans, "Spatial particles of orientation", in The Semantics of English Prepositions: Spatial Scenes, Embodied Meaning and Cognition, Cambridge University Press, 2003, 0-521-81430 8

Anagrams

Abinomn

Noun

to

  1. sago (tree)

Asturian

Etymology

From Latin tuus.

Adjective

to (epicene, plural tos)

  1. your

Babine-Witsuwit'en

Etymology

From Proto-Athabaskan *tuˑ.

Noun

to

  1. water

References

  • Sharon Hargus, Wisuwit’en Grammar: Phonetics, Phonology, Morphology (2007), page 43

Babuza

Noun

to

  1. water

References

  • Naoyoshi Ogawa, English-Favorlang vocabulary (2003)
  • S. Tsuchida, A Comparative Vocabulary of Austronesian Languages of Sinicized Ethnic Groups in Taiwan, Part I: Western Taiwan, Memoirs of the Faculty of Letters, No. 7 (1982)

Bahnar

Etymology

From Proto-Bahnaric *tɔʔ, from Proto-Mon-Khmer *tɔʔ. Cognates include Vietnamese đó, Khmer ដ៏ (dɑɑ).

Pronunciation

Pronoun

to

  1. that, there

Bambara

Noun

to

  1. stiff porridge

Catalan

Czech

Dalmatian

Danish

Esperanto

Ewe

Finnish

French

Friulian

Fula

Galician

Garifuna

Gonja

Gun

Hupa

Ido

Itene

Japanese

Kangean

Kashubian

Kituba

Kongo

Kwalhioqua-Tlatskanai

Lashi

Latvian

Lithuanian

Louisiana Creole

Lower Sorbian

Mauritian Creole

Middle English

Mohawk

Norwegian Bokmål

Norwegian Nynorsk

Old Czech

Old English

Old High German

Old Polish

Old Saxon

Plautdietsch

Polish

Portuguese

Selepet

Serbo-Croatian

Silesian

Slovak

Slovene

Tocharian B

Tooro

Tututni

Uzbek

Vietnamese

Votic

Welsh

Yola

Yoruba

Zazaki

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