tôt

tôt is a French adverb meaning early or soon, used to express that an action occurs before the usual or expected time. It can refer to the beginning of a day, a period, or a scheduled event, as in je me suis levé tôt or le trajet commence tôt le matin.

Common usages include phrases that specify timing, such as tôt le matin, tôt dans la journée, or tôt dans l’après-midi. The adverb is often contrasted with tard, the opposite meaning late. In addition, the idiomatic expression tôt ou tard conveys the idea of “sooner or later,” indicating inevitability over time.

Orthography and pronunciation: tôt is written with a circumflex on the o. The word is pronounced roughly as it looks in standard French, with the o sound typically realized as a close-mid vowel. In older texts, forms such as tot or tost appear in certain dialectal or historical spellings, reflecting its longer historical development.

Etymology and history: the exact origins of tôt are not completely settled. It is attested in Old French and has undergone phonological changes over centuries, including diacritic marks that signal historical vowel length. The circumflex in modern spelling points to historical vowel variation rather than a current orthographic rule affecting meaning.

See also: tard (late), tôt dans la journée, tôt ou tard. Usage notes: tôt remains common in everyday speech and writing for specifying early timing, and it is compatible with a wide range of verbs describing daily routines, transportation schedules, and events.