Revised as of
5 Jan 2023
I know . . . you’d think they were the same. What’s the big deal?
Well, lemme tell ya, besides the fact that each time I read about a character who would tip toe in this story, I saw her, in my mind, tipping a toe up. I was really impressed she could make just one toe tip up. I’ve tried it. If I try to move a toe upward, they all go up, like a wave.
Now with tiptoe I’m imagining that the character is either moving around on their tippy toes or they’re trying to move quietly.
WARNING: I couldn’t find much in the way of definition for tip toe without it defaulting to tiptoe, so my example sentences are weird.
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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| Tip Toe | Tiptoe |
|---|---|
Tip Your Toes Up by Alexy Almond, via Pexels (<https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-woman-touching-her-toes-3758142/>). |
Pointe Shoes is Lambtron‘s own work and was originally uploaded by Lambtron in English Wikipedia. It is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Magnus Manske cleaned the image up further . . . brightened again, fixed colours more, and added text. — Pointe shoes help you stay on tiptoe. |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Verb + Noun
TIP (only in the toe sense) Verb, intransitive & transitive Third person present verb: tips toe TOE Noun Plural: toes Gerund: tipping toe |
Adjective; Adverb: Noun; Verb, intransitive Plural for the noun: tiptoes Third person present verb: tiptoes Alternative spelling: tip-toe, tippy toe (noun) |
| TIP
Verb, intransitive: To assume a slanting or sloping position
To tilt up at one end and down at the other
To be overturned or upset [Usually followed by over] To tumble or topple Verb, transitive:
[Often followed by over] To overturn, upset, or overthrow To remove or lift (one’s hat or cap) in salutation TOE Noun: Any of the five digits at the end of the human foot
The lower end, tip, or point of something [Slang] Sex from behind while standing [Slang] Rubbing the tip of one’s penis on a person’s toes while they sleep |
Adjective: Characterized by standing or walking on tiptoe Straining upward Eagerly expectant Cautious
Adverb: Noun: [Colloquial] Refers to the weight placed on the balls of the feet rather than literally on the tips of the toes The ends of the toes Verb, intransitive:
To walk silently or stealthily |
| Examples: | |
| tip + toe
Verb, intransitive: Her tipping toes could tip up and down at the same time. Her toes tipped up. Joe tipped his toe up, and it tripped him. Verb, transitive: Helen could tip her toes up and down at the same time. Her toes tipped in a broken manner. Laid back on the sun bed, Tania tipped her toes in acknowledgement. We went at it tip toe up against the wall. Ah, damn, somebody tip toed me last night! |
Adjective: I walked tiptoe past the dog. She walked carefully with tiptoe steps. Moving with tiptoe steps, Anna looked in at the baby. Adverb: She had to stand tiptoe to reach the shelf. We went tiptoe down the corridor. Noun: “Late-night carousers started appearing at three in the morning to ask for a hot baguette, swaying on tiptoe at a high ventilation window by the oven room, a hand outstretched with a euro coin” (Buford). If he stood on tiptoe, he could reach the shelf. The children stood on tiptoe in order to pick the apples from the tree. They walked across the room on tiptoe so as not to wake the baby. Verb, intransitive: Carefully tiptoeing around the edge, he finally touched the bookshelf. The actors were all in a circle, warming up as we quietly tiptoed into the room. He waited until his daughter was asleep, then tiptoed quietly out of the room. He admits he has never been one to tiptoe around controversial issues. “Instead, they tiptoed around the issue and reported unfairness, favoritism, harassment, or hostile environment” (Ballman). |
| Phrasal Verb | |
| tiptoe around tiptoe around somebody tiptoe around something |
|
| History of the Word: | |
| As tip alone: Late Middle English, perhaps of Scandinavian origin, it was influenced later by the sense touch with a tip or point. |
1350–1400, Middle English tiptoon plural noun. |
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!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Tip Toe versus Tiptoe
Apple Dictionary.com
Ballman, Donna. “Does Discrimination Still Exist? Of Course It Does.” Huffington Post. 29 Aug 2011. Web. 21 May 2020. <https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donna-ballman-does-discri_b_939853>.
Bartlett, James T. “In Coronavirus Lockdown, Union Station’s Aquarium Loses Its Fans but Not Its Keepers.” Los Angeles Times. 6 May 2020. Web. 21 May 2020. <https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2020-05-06/coronavirus-california-union-station-aquarium-art>.
Buford, Bill. “Baking Bread in Lyon.” The New Yorker. 6 Apr 2020. Web. 21 May 2020. <https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/04/13/baking-bread-in-lyon>
Cambridge Dictionary: tiptoe
Lexico.com: tiptoe
Macmillan: tiptoe
Merriam-Webster: tiptoe
Urban Dictionary: tip toeing
Wikipedia: tiptoe
Wordsmyth: tiptoe
Pinterest Photo Credits:
One Foot Behind the Head and in a Tiptoe Pose by Mr Yoga is under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.
