Etymology

Old Chinese pronunciation was *to no. Possibly cognate with 蜘蛛 (zhīzhū, “spider, *te to”), per the dialectal dictionary Fangyan (1st century CE):

• 鼅鼄，鼄蝥也。自關而西，秦晉之間謂之鼄蝥。自關而東，趙魏之郊謂之鼅鼄，或謂之蠾蝓，蠾蝓者侏儒語之轉也。北燕朝鮮洌水之間，謂之蝳蜍。

  "Te to", spider; also called "to mo". To the west of Hangu Pass, in the Qin and Jin regions, it is called "to mo". To the east of the Pass, in the Zhao and Wei regions, it is called "te to", or "to lo". The latter is an alternation of the word "to no" ("dwarf"). In the Northern Yan, Korea, and Lie River regions, it is called "to la".

Compare the derivation of English midget from midge.

Pronunciation