Tucked

How to spell tucked

6 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce tucked

What does tucked mean?

1. verbPushed, folded, or settled something neatly into a narrow or hidden place.

Tucked in a sentence

• She tucked the loose corner of the sheet under the mattress.

• He tucked his shirt into his trousers before the interview.

Where does tucked come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is the past tense of the verb 'tuck', which comes from Middle English 'tukken', meaning to pull, pluck, or draw something together. Its deeper root is the Old English 'tucian', which originally meant to torment or ill-treat, and it is related to the German 'zucken', meaning to twitch or jerk sharply. Over the medieval period the harsh sense softened, and the word came to describe gathering cloth, drawing folds together, or pushing an edge neatly into place. By the time tailoring vocabulary settled, a 'tuck' was a stitched fold in fabric, and the verb broadened into the familiar modern meanings of folding in, hiding away, or settling someone snugly. The spelling keeps the hard 'ck' before the '-ed' ending, so the past form is written 'tucked' rather than with a single 'c'.

How the word is built

• tuck (to push or fold into place)
• -ed (past tense suffix)