From Middle English token, taken, from Old English tācn, from Proto-West Germanic *taikn, from Proto-Germanic *taikną, from Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- with Germanic *k rather than *h by Kluge's law.

The verb is from Middle English toknen, from Old English tācnian.

• (British) IPA: /ˈtəʊkən/
• (America) enPR: tōk′ən IPA: /ˈtoʊkən/

token (plural tokens)

1. Something serving as an expression of something else.

   Synonyms: sign, symbol

   According to the Bible, the rainbow is a token of God's covenant with Noah.

2. A keepsake.

   Synonyms: memento, souvenir

   Please accept this bustier as a token of our time together.

3. A piece of stamped metal or plastic, etc., used as a form of currency; a voucher that can be exchanged for goods or services.

   Subway tokens are being replaced by magnetic cards.

   A book token is the easiest option for a Christmas gift.

4. A small physical object, often designed to give the appearance of a common thing, used to represent a person or character in a board game or other situation.

   Everyone pick a token (hat, wheelbarrow, thimble, etc.) and place it on the Start square.

5. A minor attempt for appearance's sake, or to minimally comply with a requirement; a formality.

   His apology was no more than a token.

   1. A member of a group of people that is included within a larger group to comply with a legal or social requirement.
6. (obsolete, sometimes, figurative) Evidence, proof; a confirming detail; physical trace, mark, footprint.
7. Support for a belief; grounds for an opinion.

   Synonyms: reason, reasoning

8. An extraordinary event serving as evidence of supernatural power.

   Synonyms: miracle

9. An object or disclosure to attest or authenticate the bearer or an instruction.

   Synonyms: password

10. A seal guaranteeing the quality of an item.
11. Something given or shown as a symbol or guarantee of authority or right; a sign of authenticity, of power, good faith.
    • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act IV, scene iii]:

      Say, by this token, I desire his company.

    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Exodus 3:12 ↗:

      And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.

12. A tally.
13. (philosophy) A particular thing to which a concept applies.
14. (computing) An atomic piece of data, such as a word, for which a meaning may be inferred during parsing.

    Synonyms: symbol

    Coordinate term: placeholder

    • 2004, Randall Hyde, Write Great Code: Understanding the Machine, page 68:

      For each lexeme, the scanner creates a small data package known as a token and passes this data package on to the parser.

15. (computing) A conceptual object that can be possessed by a computer, process, etc. in order to regulate a turn-taking system such as a token ring network.
16. (computing) A meaningless placeholder used as a substitute for sensitive data.
17. (grammar) A lexeme; a basic, grammatically indivisible unit of a language such as a keyword, operator or identifier.
18. (corpus linguistics) A single example of a certain word in a text or corpus.

    Antonyms: type

19. (medical) A characteristic sign of a disease or of a bodily disorder, a symptom; a sign of a bodily condition, recovery, or health.
20. (medical, obsolete) A livid spot upon the body, indicating, or supposed to indicate, the approach of death.
    • 1610–1614, John Fletcher, “The Tragedie of Valentinian”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC ↗, Act V, scene iv:

      Like the fearful tokens of the plague, Are mere fore-runners of their ends.

21. (printing) Ten and a half quires, or, commonly, 250 sheets, of paper printed on both sides; also, in some cases, the same number of sheets printed on one side, or half the number printed on both sides.
22. (mining) A bit of leather having a peculiar mark designating a particular miner. Each hewer sent one of these with each corf or tub he had hewn.
    • 1873, Richard Fynes, The Miners of Northumberland and Durham, page 110:

      But worse still was the practice of defrauding them of their earnings, for as their “tokens” were put on to the outside of the tubs it often happened that hundreds were taken off and thrown away; so that they often found, to their exceeding chagrin, when they came to bank, that after having put up with all the abuse and ill-treatment in the mine they had got little or nothing for working all day.

    • 1877, “Northern Industries”, in The Primitive Methodist Magazine, page 172:

      The “token” is simply a small piece of leather with a given number upon it, and as the colliers work in pairs--not at the same time, but in succession, the one man taking the “fore shift,” the other the “back shift,”—each pair has a specific number, and round the “token” cabin are ranged hooks also numbered to correspond with the tokens the colliers take down with them into the mine; every tub laden with coal that comes to bank has in it one of these “tokens,” and the business of token-keeper is to secure these and lodge them upon their corresponding hooks, so that at the end of each shift, or day of labour, the colliers knows how many tubs he has sent “to bank”.

23. (mining) A thin bed of coal indicating the existence of a thicker seam at no great distance.
24. (rail transport) A physical object used for exchange between drivers and signalmen on single track lines.
25. (weaving) In a loom, a colored signal to show the weaver which shuttle to use.
26. (Church of Scotland) A piece of metal given beforehand to each person in the congregation who is permitted to partake of the Lord's Supper.

• French: symbole
• German: Zeichen, Symbol
• Italian: simbolo, segno
• Portuguese: símbolo, sinal
• Russian: знак
• Spanish: seña

• German: Andenken, Souvenir, Erinnerung
• Portuguese: lembrança
• Russian: сувени́р
• Spanish: recuerdo

• French: jeton
• German: Jeton, Chip
• Italian: gettone
• Portuguese: ficha, vale
• Russian: жето́н
• Spanish: ficha

• French: gage
• Spanish: prenda

• Spanish: símbolo

token

1. Done as an indication or a pledge.
2. Perfunctory or merely symbolic; done or existing for appearance's sake, or to minimally comply with a requirement.

   a token gesture

   He made a token tap on the brake pedal at the stop sign.

   • 1927, Arthur Robert Burns, Money and Monetary Policy in Early Times, page 393:

     If the as had been reduced to a token in 240 BC, it was now a little more token than before.

   • 2000, Cheris Kramarae, Dale Spender, Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women, page 176:

     There are still many churches where the participation of women is token.

3. (of people) Included in minimal numbers in order to create an impression or illusion of diversity, especially ethnic or gender diversity.

   He was hired as the company's token black person.

   The television show was primarily directed toward a black audience, but it did have a few token white people as performers.

• French: symbolique
• Portuguese: simbólico
• Russian: символи́ческий
• Spanish: simbólico, cosmético

token (tokens, present participle tokening; simple past and past participle tokened)

1. To betoken, indicate, portend, designate, denote
   • 1398, in Hans Kurath & Sherman M. Kuhn, eds., Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press 1962, ISBN 978-0-472-01044-8, page 1242:

     dorrẹ̅, dōrī adj. & n. […] Golden or reddish-yellow […] (a. 1398) *Trev. Barth. 59b/a: ʒelouʒ colour [of urine] […] tokeneþ febleness of hete […] dorrey & citrine & liʒt red tokeneþ mene.

   • 1928, Edmund Blunden, Undertones of War, Penguin, published 2010, page 149:

     The instinct revolted against the inevitable punishment to come, already tokened by those big holes now met in walls and crossings.

2. To betroth
3. (philosophy) To symbolize, instantiate