to
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Appendix:Variations of "to"
Languages (63)
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Abinomn • Asturian • Babine-Witsuwit'en • Babuza • Bahnar • Bambara • Catalan • Czech • Dalmatian • Danish • Esperanto • Ewe • Finnish • 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
Symbol
to
Alternative forms
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
- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: to͞o, IPA(key): /tuː/, [tʰu̟ː]
Audio (Southern England): (file) - (General American) enPR: to͞o IPA(key): /tu/, [tʰu̟]
Audio (General American): (file) - (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA(key): /tʉː/, [tʰʉː]
- Homophones: too, two
- Rhymes: -uː
Unstressed
Particle
to
- 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
- 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.
- 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.
- (expressing purpose) In order to.
- I went to the shops to buy some bread.
Derived terms
Translations
infinitive-marker
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in order to
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Preposition
to
- In the direction of; towards.
- She looked to the heavens.
- 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.
- 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.
- So as to contact, press against, impact, etc.
- I fixed the notice to the wall.
- Put your shoulder to the door.
- Used to indicate result of action.
- His face was beaten to a pulp.
- I tried complaining, but it was to no effect.
- Used to indicate a resulting feeling or emotion.
- To everyone's great relief, the tuneless carol singers finally ceased their warbling.
- 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.
- Indicating a degree or level reached.