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Origin and history of tee

tee(n.)

1610s, "the name of the letter T."

In golf (by 1721) it is back-formation from teaz (1673), taken as a plural; a Scottish word of uncertain origin. The original form was a little heap of sand. The tee that means "mark toward which balls, stones, etc. are aimed" in various games is attested by 1789, sometimes said to be ultimately from Old Norse but OED (1989) finds the connection "untenable."

The verb meaning "place a ball on a golf tee" is recorded from 1670s; figurative sense of "make ready" (usually with up (adv.)) is recorded from 1938. Tee-off (n.) "start of play in golf" is attested by 1952. Teed off in the figurative sense of "angry, annoyed" is first recorded 1953, probably more or less a euphemism for p(iss)ed off.

also from 1610s

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Trends of tee

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to explore

tea
1650s, tay, also in early spellings thea, tey, tee and at first pronounced so as to rhyme with obey; the modern pronunciation...The modern English form, along with French thé, Spanish te, German Tee, etc., derive via Dutch thee from the Amoy form, reflecting...
golf
who a golfer's bride would be, Fast mated with a laddie Who every day goes out to tee And with him takes the caddie...
site
"place or position occupied by something," especially with reference to environment, also "land on which a building stands, location of a village," late 14c., from Anglo-French site, Old French site "place, site; position," and directly from Latin situs "a place, position, situat
lay
"to cause to lie or rest," Old English lecgan "to place on the ground (or other surface); place in an orderly fashion," also "put down" (often by striking), from Proto-Germanic *lagojanan (source also of Old Saxon leggian, Old Norse leggja, Old Frisian ledza, Middle Dutch legghan
peso
"Spanish coin, the Spanish dollar," also a coin in various Spanish-American nations,  1550s, from Spanish peso, literally "a weight," from Medieval Latin pensum, properly past participle of Latin pendere "to hang, cause to hang; weigh; pay" (from PIE root *(s)pen- "to draw,
pose
late 14c., posen, "suggest (something is so), suppose, assume; grant, concede," from Old French poser "put, place, propose," a term in debating, from Late Latin pausare "to halt, rest, cease, pause" (source also of Italian posare, Spanish posar; see pause (v.)). The Late Latin ve
place
c. 1200, "space, dimensional extent, room, area," from Old French place "place, spot" (12c.) and directly from Medieval Latin placea "place, spot," from Latin platea "courtyard, open space; broad way, avenue," from Greek plateia (hodos) "broad (way)," fem. of platys "broad," from
link
early 15c., "one of a series of rings or loops which form a chain; section of a cord," probably from Old Norse *hlenkr or a similar Scandinavian source (compare Old Norse hlekkr "link," in plural, "chain;" Old Swedish lænker "chain, link," Norwegian lenke "a link," Danish lænke "
peg
"pointed pin of wood, metal, or other material," mid-15c., pegge, from Middle Dutch pegge "peg," or a similar Low German word (Low German pigge "peg," German Pegel "gauge rod, watermark," Middle Dutch pegel "little knob used as a mark," Dutch peil "gauge, watermark, standard"); o
position
late 14c., posicioun, as a term in logic and philosophy, "statement of belief, the laying down of a proposition or thesis," from Old French posicion "position, supposition" (Modern French position) and directly from Latin positionem (nominative positio) "act or fact of placing, s

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Dictionary entries near tee
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