The word 'tot' is a short, simple word of Germanic origin, likely entering English from Scandinavian languages like Old Norse or from Low German dialects. Its core meaning of "small" or "little" is reflected in its primary modern senses: a very small child or a small measure of liquor. The word's journey exemplifies how concise, colloquial terms from everyday speech can become standardized in a language, carrying with them an inherent sense of diminutive size or quantity. Its phonetic brevity and the concrete nature of its meanings have ensured its persistence in informal and nursery English.

This word is a simplex. It is a borrowing from a Germanic language (Scandinavian or Low German), where it functioned as a colloquial or dialectal term.