ditto

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English

WOTD – 9 June 2007

Etymology

First attested in 1625. From regional Italian ditto, variant of detto, past participle of dire (“to say”), from Latin dīcō (“I say, I speak”). Not related to Italian dito (“finger”).

The specific meaning of making copies of paper comes from ditto machine, the brand name of a spirit duplicator.

Pronunciation

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  • Audio (AU):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɪtəʊ

Noun

ditto (plural dittos or dittoes)

  1. That which was stated before, the aforesaid, the above, the same, likewise.
    • 1831, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Romance and Reality, volume 1, page 127:
      [...] they entered a dismal-looking parlour, whose brick-red walls and ditto curtains were scantily lighted by a single lamp, though it was of the last new patent— […]
    • 1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “Comprising a Brief Description of the Company at the Peacock Assembled; and a Tale Told by a Bagman”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC, page 134:
      […] a spacious table in the centre, and a variety of smaller dittos in the corners: […]
    • 1967, Star Trek, The Alternative Factor, season 1, episode 27, DeForest Kelley (actor):
      Well say he's got the constitution of a dinosaur, recuperative powers ditto. And as we both know, I'm a bright young medic with a miraculous touch. Well why then, when I returned, there wasn't a trace of that wound on his forehead. Not even a bruise. It was like he had never been injured.
    • 2008 May 22, “New 'Indiana' film whips up plenty of thrills”, in Hudson (MA) MetroWest Daily News:
      The opening shot of "Crystal Skull" shows the playful side of director Steven Spielberg, who seems to have a weak spot for cute animals. See "AI Artificial Intelligence" for Exhibit A. Ditto for executive producer George Lucas. See "Return of the Jedi" for Exhibit B.
    • 2009 July 3, “Andy Murray: easy to admire, but can we learn to love him?”, in Times Online:
      He has created for himself a honed, primed-for-victory body and is working hard on a ditto mind.
  2. (US, informal) A duplicate or copy of a document, particularly one created by a spirit duplicator.
    Please run off twenty-four dittos of this assignment, for my students.
  3. (by extension) A copy; an imitation.
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  4. The ditto mark, 〃; a symbol, represented by two apostrophes, inverted commas, or quotation marks (" "), indicating that the item preceding is to be repeated.
    Synonyms: (abbreviation, dated) do., (abbreviation, rare) do
  5. (historical, in the plural) A suit of clothes of the same colour throughout.

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Adverb

ditto (not comparable)

  1. As said before, likewise.
    • 2004 January 15, “Smash and grab”, in The Economist‎[1]:
      The inflationary effect of injecting $1 billion into the economy could be dire; ditto the impact on the tumbling bolivar of treating foreign reserves as if they were the government's piggy-bank.
    • March 11 2022, David Hytner, “Chelsea are in crisis but there is no will to leave club on their knees”, in The Guardian‎[2]:
      Some of the players were concerned about what the future held for them – given that one of the measures involved Chelsea not being able to operate in the transfer market or offer new contracts. Ditto many members of staff.

Translations

Verb

ditto (third-person singular simple present dittos, present participle dittoing, simple past and past participle dittoed)

  1. (transitive) To repeat the aforesaid, the earlier action etc.
    Synonyms: ape, echo
    • 1989, K. K. N. Kurup, Agrarian struggles in Kerala
      The Communists believed that Prakasam, the Prime Minister, never tried to check the bureaucracy but dittoed every action of the corrupt officials and police.
  2. (US) To make a copy using a ditto machine.

Translations

Interjection

ditto

  1. Used as an expression of agreement with what another person has said, or to indicate that what they have said equally applies to the person being addressed.
    I'm really busy today! —Ditto!
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Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From older Italian ditto. Doublet of diktum.

Adverb

ditto

  1. ditto

Interjection

ditto

  1. ditto

Portuguese

Noun

ditto m (plural dittos)

  1. Obsolete spelling of dito.

Adjective

ditto (feminine ditta, masculine plural dittos, feminine plural dittas)

  1. Obsolete spelling of dito.

Verb

ditto

  1. Obsolete spelling of dito.
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