To

Part of speech: preposition, adverb

Definitions

1. Showing direction or destination, as in heading toward a place ; a marker placed before a base verb to form the infinitive ; meaning shut or closed, as a door pulled almost shut
2. Indicating a destination or limit in space or time ; an infinitive marker placed before a verb ; describing something partly or fully closed, like a door left ajar
3. A preposition expressing movement toward a goal ; the particle that introduces a verb's basic form ; an adverb signifying a closed position, such as a gate pushed shut

Etymology: The word "to" is one of the oldest in English, and it has been a single short syllable for as long as English has been recorded. Its earliest form, Old English "to", carried the same basic sense of direction toward a place or person that it does today, and it still serves as both a preposition and an adverb, as in "pull the door to." Its relatives are spread across the Germanic languages: Dutch "toe" and "te", German "zu", Scots "tae", and West Frisian "ta" all descend from the same ancient root. The resemblance extends well beyond the Germanic family too. Irish "do" and Welsh "i", both meaning "to" or "for," come from a separate branch of the Indo-European family, and Russian "до" ("do") means "up to" or "until." Such matches across distant languages point to a very old shared ancestor, even though the individual words developed independently.

Synonyms: unto, towards

Antonyms: from