toggle [M18th] Toggle was originally in nautical use, a term for a short pin passed through a loop of a rope to keep it in place. The origin is obscure but there is probably a relationship with *tangle. The word’s generalization to a ‘fastener’ on a strap or garment dates from the late 19th century. It has been used as a term in computing since the 1980s for a command that has the opposite effect on successive occasions: the notion is one of turning through 90 degrees.