# tog

> English word · Noun · IPA /tɒɡ/ · frequency rank #59,078

## Definitions
1. A cloak.
2. A coat.
3. swimwear.
4. A unit of thermal resistance, being ten times the temperature difference (in °C) between the two surfaces of a material when the flow of heat is equal to one watt per square metre

## Etymology
Shortened from earlier togemans, togeman (“cloak, loose coat”), from Middle English tog, toge, togue, from Old French togue, from Latin toga (“cloak, mantle”) (compare the doublets toga and toge). Togeman(s) was an old thieves' and vegabonds' cant for "cloak; coat". By the 1700s the noun tog was used as a shortened form, then with the meaning "coat"; before 1800 the word (in this sense usually in the plural; see togs) started to mean "clothing". The verb tog ("to dress up") came shortly after. The unit of thermal resistance was coined in the 1940s after the clo, a unit of thermal insulation of clothing, which was itself derived from clothes or clothing.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/tog