Word Confusion: ‘Til vs Till vs Until

Posted November 1, 2018 by kddidit in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of
13 July 2023

Well, beat my chest in penance, wipe the egg off my face, hang my head in shame. I had thought ’til was the appropriate short form of until. Turns out I’m way off. If you should ever use ’til, be sure it’s in dialect to indicate a very informal conversation.

Meanwhile, it’s till and until that are more properly used — especially until in business or more formal situations and definitely until if it starts a sentence.

CAUTION: You only use till or until when you are talking about time. Do not use these words to talk about position.

Now, contrary to what [it seems] many believe, till has actually been in longer usage, several hundred years longer, than until.

By the way . . . using ’til is less barbaric than ’till . . . which I’d never come across before. The things you learn . . .

Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.

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‘Til	Till	Until
Yogi Berra, September 1956 cover of Baseball Digest is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. — The game ain’t over ’til it’s over.	Glacial Till Exposed in Roadcut., June 2003, by Daniel Mayer CC BY-SA 3.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.	How Long Until It’s Gone by Zephyrschord is under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.
Part of Grammar:
Non-standard Conjunction; Preposition Alternative spelling: till	Conjunction ¹ and Preposition ¹; Noun ², ³; Verb ⁴, intransitive & transitive Plural for the noun: tills Gerund: tilling Third person present verb: tills Past tense or past participle: tilled Present participle: tilling Non-standard variation: ’till	Conjunction and Preposition
Non-standard Conjunction / Preposition: Till Until	Use in informal writing Never use to start a sentence Conjunction / Preposition: To the time that or when ¹ Until Up to the time of [Used in negative constructions] Before Near or at a specified time [Chiefly Midland, Southern, and Western US] Before To [Scotland and North England] To Unto Noun A drawer, box, or the like, as in a shop or bank, in which money is kept ² A drawer, tray, or the like, as in a cabinet or chest, for keeping valuables An arrangement of drawers or pigeonholes, as on a desk top [Geology] Glacial drift consisting of an unassorted mixture of clay, sand, gravel, and boulders ³ A stiff clay Verb, intransitive: To cultivate the soil ⁴ Verb, transitive: To labor, as by plowing or harrowing, upon (land) for the raising of crops ⁴ Cultivate To plow	Use in formal or informal writing Always use to start a sentence Conjunction: Up to the time that Before To the point or extent that Preposition: Up to the time of Before (a specified time) [Scots] Unto To
Examples:
Conjunction: They concentrate on one language ’til they go to university. I’ll wait here ’til you have had your breakfast. He continued watching ’til I had driven off in my car. Preposition: We will fight ’til death. “Master-Workman Shaw was found this morning on the street, whistling ‘Wait ‘Til the Clouds Roll By’, and was tapped by the reporter for the latest developments on the strike situation” (St Louis). He did not come ’til today. She won’t be here ’til evening. It’s ten ’til four on my watch. ”Yes we will, Watty; we’re only going to wait ‘til they’ve got the house and furniture — and oh! Watty. What do you think?” (New York). ”’Wait ‘til you’ve been in a town like I have for some time,”’said Eve” (Temple).	Conjunction: Come here till I tell you. Stay here with me till help comes. The plan remained secret till it was exposed by the press. Noun They emptied the till, Marvin! There were long lines at the till. What follows is the city economy in decline, no money in the tills, and shops closing. He was caught with his hand in the till and sacked. Glacial tills and their ancient equivalents, tillites, are of this type. Preposition: We will fight till death. He did not come till today. She won’t be here till evening. It’s ten till four on my watch. They had to wait till Monday to phone the bank. I said I’d work till 4 p.m. Verb, intransitive: Will you be tilling in the north 40? John’s out tilling today. Paul, you need to till. Verb, transitive: No land was being tilled or crops sown with the rain pouring down as it was. There’s no point in tilling the fields, as the crops won’t grow any more. We need to till manure in the next field over.	Conjunction: You don’t know what you can achieve until you try. You pay by the hour so you can play as many frames as you like until your time runs out. He is a natural left side player and was doing a good job for us until he was injured. He added that the glass was replaced but lasted for less than a month until this week. We have lost a lot of stock and are unable to assess the damage until the water levels drop. There is a limit on how much you can send and withdraw until you gain verified status. We walked until it got dark. You cannot leave until your work is finished. I talked until I was hoarse. Until you get that paper written, don’t even think about going to the movies. Preposition: The kidnappers have given us until October 11th to deliver the documents. He held the office until his death. By the way you only have until the end of September to lend your support to this idea. If you want to book a seat in it, you’ll have to wait until April as they’re all booked up. It cannot be long until the first offers appear to pay us a modest fee to sign up to their system. Pour it into a saucepan and heat until the flour is cooked and the sauce is thickened. We danced until dawn. She can’t leave until Friday. Until you change, you can’t go out. He continued to teach until his death in 1960.
Derivatives:
	Adjective: mistilled, tillable, untilled, untilling, well-tilled Noun: tiller
History of the Word:
By the late 19th century an apostrophe has been added to the beginning of the word, and it is found in widespread use — especially when a writer is attempting to replicate colloquial speech.	Old English til is of Germanic origin and related to the Old Norse til meaning to, also ultimately to 4. 1425–75 in late Middle English tylle, tylle meaning to draw (as a noun), the Old English -tyllan (in fortyllan meaning to seduce); akin to the Latin dolus meaning trick, the Greek dólos meaning bait (for fish), any cunning contrivance, treachery. Of uncertain origin and originally Scots, denoting shale, it was first recorded in 1665–75. Before 900, Middle English tilen, the Old English tilian meaning to strive after, get, till; cognate with the Dutch telen meaning to breed, cultivate and the German zielen meaning to aim at.	Middle English from the Old Norse und meaning as far as + Old English til, which is of Germanic origin and related to the Old Norse til meaning to.

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

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Resources for ‘Til vs Till vs Until

Apple Dictionary.com

Dictionary.com: till

The Free Dictionary: until, till

Merriam-Webster: ‘Til, Till, Until

Oxford Living Dictionaries: till, until

“Until, Till, ‘Til, or ‘Till?” Words at Play. Commonly Confused. Merriam-Webster. The New York Observer and Chronicle, 22 Aug 1872. Web. n.d. <https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/should-you-use-until-or-till-or-til>.

— —. Words at Play. Commonly Confused. Merriam-Webster. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 2 Aug 1883. Web. n.d.<https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/should-you-use-until-or-till-or-til>.

— —. Words at Play. Commonly Confused. Merriam-Webster. Temple Bar: A London Magazine for Town and Country Readers. Sept 1880. Web. n.d.<https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/should-you-use-until-or-till-or-til>.