# tout

> English word · Noun · IPA /taʊt/ · frequency rank #23,134

## Definitions
1. Someone advertising for customers in an aggressive way.
2. A person at a racecourse who offers supposedly inside information on which horse is likely to win.
3. An informer in the Irish Republican Army.
4. A spy for a smuggler, thief, or the like.

## Etymology
From Middle English touten (“to jut out, protrude, gaze upon, observe, peer”), from Old English *tūtian (“to be sticking out, protrude”), related to Old English tȳtan (“to stand out, be conspicuous, shine”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *tut(t)- (“to stick out, project”). Compare Icelandic túta (“a teat-like prominence”), tútna (“to be blown up”). Possibly influenced by dialectal toot (“to stick out; project; peer out; peep”), from Middle English toten, totien, from Old English tōtian (“to peep out; look; pry; spectate”). Compare also Old English tot, ġetot (“pomp, splendour, vainglory”).

## Easily confused with
- **Tu** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tout-vs-tu)
- **TT** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tout-vs-tt)
- **toy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tout-vs-toy)
- **tub** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tout-vs-tub)
- **tow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tout-vs-tow)
- **tug** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tout-vs-tug)
- **Tue** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tout-vs-tue)
- **tum** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tout-vs-tum)
- **tru** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tout-vs-tru)
- **tun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tout-vs-tun)
- **tut** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tout-vs-tut)
- **tux** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tout-vs-tux)
- **tui** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tout-vs-tui)
- **tur** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tout-vs-tur)
- **TOV** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tout-vs-tov)
- **TUC** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tout-vs-tuc)
- **Tsu** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tout-vs-tsu)
- **true** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tout-vs-true)
- **town** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tout-vs-town)
- **toys** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tout-vs-toys)

## Common misspellings (5)
`otut`, `totu`, `toutt`, `ttout`, `tuot`

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