English
trifle
Trifle comes from Old French trufle ‘mockery’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *tewh₂- ‘to swell, grow fat’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tewh₂-‘to swell, grow fat’root as named · steps between not traced
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400trufle‘mockery’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500trifle
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1596–1598same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tewh₂-‘to swell, grow fat’root as named · steps between not traced
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400trufle‘mockery’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500trifle
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1596–1598same form
Earliest quotation: c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice: “We trifle time: I pray thee, pursue sentence.”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *tewh₂- ‘to swell, grow fat’
butter, tumor, tomb, tumour, soma, tumultuous, tuff, tyrosine, tumult, tuber, truffle, turgid, madrasa, tufa, 43 more
Today it means
noun An English dessert made from a mixture of thick custard, fruit, sponge cake, jelly and whipped cream.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *tewh₂- / trifle