English
testy
Testy comes from Old French teste ‘head’, and goes back to Latin testa ‘a piece of burned clay, brick, tile’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtesta‘a piece of burned clay, brick, tile’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400teste‘head’
- Old French, derivedc. 842–1400testu
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500testif‘headstrong’
- Englishearliest quotation 2022testy
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtesta‘a piece of burned clay, brick, tile’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400teste‘head’
- Old French, derivedc. 842–1400testu
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500testif‘headstrong’
- Englishearliest quotation 2022testy
Earliest quotation: 2022, Kevin Roose, We Need to Talk About How Good A.I. Is Getting: “Otherwise, we could end up with a repeat of…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *ters- ‘dry’
territory, inter, territorial, terrain, terrace, thirst, terra, terrier, terrestrial, fossa, fosse, terroir, terrine, 40 more
through Latin torreō ‘to burn, parch’
toast, torrent, torrid, 19 more
through Latin testa ‘a piece of burned clay, brick, tile’
Today it means
adj Easily annoyed, irritable.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin testa / testy