Word: to Part of Speech: prep Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *de Proto-Indo-European *doh₁ Proto-Germanic *tō Proto-West Germanic *tō Old English tō Middle English to English to 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: /tuː/, [tu̟ː], [tʰʊw], /tiː/, [tʰʉw] 1. In the direction of; towards. Example: She looked to the heavens. 2. Indicating destination or final position: In the direction of, so as to arrive at or reach. Example: We are walking to the shop. Example: The water came right to the top of this wall. 3. Used to indicate the target or recipient of an action. Example: I gave the book to him. Example: I spoke to him earlier. 4. So as to contact, press against, impact, etc. Example: I fixed the notice to the wall. Example: Put your shoulder to the door. 5. So as to become or reach: indicating a terminal state resulting from an action. Example: His face was beaten to a pulp. Example: I sang my baby to sleep. 6. So as to bring about or elicit (an effect or outcome). Example: He made several bad-taste jokes to groans from the audience. Example: I tried complaining, but it was to no effect. 7. Used after an adjective to indicate its application. Example: 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. Example: It was to a large extent true. Example: We manufacture these parts to a very high tolerance. 9. Used to describe what something consists of or contains. Example: Anyone could do this job; there's nothing to it. Example: There's a lot of sense to what he says. 10. Denotes the end of a range. Example: It takes 2 to 4 weeks to process typical applications. 11. As a. Labels: obsolete Example: 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. Example: one to one = 1:1 Example: ten to one = 10:1. 13. Used to indicate that the preceding term is to be raised to the power of the following value; indicates exponentiation. Example: Three squared or three to the second power is nine. Example: Three to the power of two is nine. 14. Preceding (the stated hour). Example: What's the time? – It's quarter to four in the afternoon (or 3:45 pm). 15. Preceding (the stated hour). Labels: informal Example: It’s quarter to (3:45, or 4:45, or whatever time ending in 45 would make the most sense) 16. According to. Example: Our holiday did not go to plan. 17. At. Labels: Canada, Newfoundland, Wales Example: Stay where you're to and I'll come find you, b'y. Example: Where are you to? 18. 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.