Token

How to spell token

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce token

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does token mean?

1. nounA small object, sign, or voucher that represents or stands in for something else.
2. adjectiveDone as a small symbolic gesture rather than a genuine or substantial effort.

Token in a sentence

• noun

  The arcade machines only accept a plastic token instead of coins.

• adjective

  The company made only a token effort to cut its emissions.

• noun

  He gave her a small gift as a token of his gratitude.

• adjective

  Staff received a token pay rise that barely covered inflation.

Where does token come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word comes straight from the Old English tācen or tācn, which meant a sign, a mark, or a symbol that pointed to something beyond itself. It belongs to the broad Germanic family, and its close cousins survive today in the German Zeichen, meaning 'sign', and the Dutch teken. The same root is connected to the verb 'teach', because teaching was originally a matter of showing signs or pointing things out. Over the centuries the meaning narrowed and broadened in turns: from a general 'sign' to a keepsake given as proof of feeling (a token of affection), and then to a small stamped disc used in place of money. The spelling kept its plain single k and its unstressed second syllable, which is the only real trap, since the final part sounds like a faint 'kuhn' rather than a clearly spelled '-en'.

How the word is built

• tok- (from Old English tācen: sign, mark)
• -en (noun-forming element)