English
tress
Tress comes from Old French tresce ‘lock of hair’.
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400tresce‘lock of hair’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tresse‘braid, tress’
- Englishearliest quotation 1910tress
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400tresce‘lock of hair’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tresse‘braid, tress’
- Englishearliest quotation 1910tress
Earliest quotation: 1910, Theodore C. Williams, The Aeneid: “nor was the doom / of guilty deed, but…”
Linked words
through Ancient Greek θρίξ ‘hair’
Today it means
noun A braid, knot, or curl, of hair; a ringlet.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old French tresce / tress