*SET-U

English word origin

Etymology of tryst

From Middle English tryst, trist, from Old French triste, tristre (“waiting place, appointed station in hunting”), probably from a North Germanic source such as Old Norse treysta (“to make safe, secure”), from traust (“c

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In this entry · 1 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Unnumbered source etymology

Original entry ↗
verb

To make a tryst; to agree to meet at a place. · To arrange or appoint (a meeting time etc.). · To keep a tryst, to meet at an agreed place and time.

noun

A prearranged meeting or assignation, now especially between lovers to meet at a specific place and time. · A mutual agreement, a covenant. · A market fair, especially a recurring one held on a schedule, where livestock sales took place.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

From Middle English tryst, trist, from Old French triste, tristre (“waiting place, appointed station in hunting”), probably from a North Germanic source such as Old Norse treysta (“to make safe, secure”), from traust (“confidence, trust, security, help, shelter, safe abode”), from Proto-Germanic *traustą (“trust, shelter”), from Proto-Indo-European *deru-, *dreu-, *drū- (“to be firm, be solid”). Doublet of trust, see there for more.

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

  • Inherited-form mentiontrystenm
  • Derivation mentiontristefro
  • Derivation mentiontreystanon · to make safe, secure
  • Inherited-form mention*traustągem-pro · trust, shelter
  • Derivation mention*deru-ine-pro
  • Doublet mentiontrusten
Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

{
  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "tryst"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English tryst"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fro",
        "3": "triste"
      },
      "expansion": "Old French triste"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gmq",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "North Germanic"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "non",
        "3": "treysta",
        "t": "to make safe, secure"
      },
      "expansion": "Old Norse treysta (“to make safe, secure”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
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        "2": "gem-pro",
        "3": "*traustą",
        "t": "trust, shelter"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Germanic *traustą (“trust, shelter”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*deru-"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *deru-"
    },
    {
      "name": "doublet",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "trust"
      },
      "expansion": "Doublet of trust"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "tryst",
      "tryst#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "trist",
      "trist#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "triste",
      "triste#Old_French"
    ],
    [
      "tristre",
      "tristre#Old_French"
    ],
    [
      "treysta",
      "treysta#Old_Norse"
    ],
    [
      "traust",
      "traust#Old_Norse"
    ],
    [
      "*traustą",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/traustą"
    ],
    [
      "*deru-",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/deru-"
    ],
    [
      "*dreu-",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/dreu-"
    ],
    [
      "*drū-",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/drū-"
    ],
    [
      "trust",
      "trust#English"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "verb",
      "glosses": [
        "To make a tryst; to agree to meet at a place.",
        "To arrange or appoint (a meeting time etc.).",
        "To keep a tryst, to meet at an agreed place and time."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive",
        "transitive"
      ],
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      "pos": "noun",
      "glosses": [
        "A prearranged meeting or assignation, now especially between lovers to meet at a specific place and time.",
        "A mutual agreement, a covenant.",
        "A market fair, especially a recurring one held on a schedule, where livestock sales took place."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "obsolete",
        "Scotland",
        "historical"
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  ],
  "omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
    "templates": 0,
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}

Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for tryst →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source provenance
Source SHA-256
5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run
73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID
w-dHJ5c3Q