ditto

English

WOTD – 9 June 2007

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɪtəʊ/
• IPA^(key): /ˈdɪtoʊ/, [ˈdɪɾoʊ]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪtəʊ

Noun

ditto (plural dittos or dittoes)

1. That which was stated before, the aforesaid, the above, the same, likewise.
   • (Can we date this quote by Charles Dickens and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     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. (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. A copy; an imitation.
4. A symbol, represented by two apostrophes, inverted commas, or quotation marks (" "), when indicating that the item preceding is to be repeated.
5. (historical, in the plural) A suit of clothes of the same colour throughout.

Synonyms

• (symbol): ditto mark, do (abbreviation)

Translations

the aforesaid

• Bulgarian: същото (bg) (sǎštoto), горното (bg) (gornoto)
• Czech: detto (cs)
• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} dito (nl), ^{(please verify)} idem (nl), ^{(please verify)} idem dito (nl), ^{(please verify)} dito dito
• Finnish: edelläsanottu, yllämainittu, ylläoleva (fi)
• French: idem (fr), dito (fr)
• German: dito (de)
• Hebrew: אותו דבר
• Hungarian: dettó
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: detto (it), predetto (it), idem (it), come sopra, soprascritto (it), idem come sopra
• Polish: jak wyżej, to samo (pl)
• Portuguese: dito (pt), de acordo (pt), idem (pt)
• Russian: то же самое (ru) (to že samoje)
• Spanish: ídem
• Swedish: dito (sv), o (abbreviation)
• Vietnamese: như trên, nt (vi)

informal: duplicate

• Bulgarian: копие (bg) n (kopie)
• Dutch: kopietje (nl) n
• Finnish: kopsu (fi)
• Hungarian: másolat (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: fac-simile
• Russian: ко́пия (ru) f (kópija)
• Swedish: kopia (sv) c
• Turkish: kopya (tr)

ditto mark

• Czech: detto (cs)
• Dutch: herhalingsteken n
• Finnish: lainausmerkki (fi), toistomerkki
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: Unterführungszeichen (de) n
• Hungarian: macskaköröm (hu)
• Portuguese: idem (pt) m

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

• French: ^{(please verify)} dito (fr)
• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} dsa., ^{(please verify)} dan samadengan atas
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} idem (it)
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 同上 (ja) (dōjō)

Adverb

ditto (not comparable)

1. As said before, likewise.

Translations

likewise — see likewise

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.
   • 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.

Synonyms

• ape
• echo

Translations

(transitive) To repeat the aforesaid, the earlier action etc

• Bulgarian: повтарям (bg) (povtarjam)
• Italian: idem (it)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: повторя́ть (ru) (povtorjátʹ)

Interjection

ditto

1. Used to show 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!"

   • 1872, Lewis Carroll, “Chapter IV: Tweedledum and Tweedledee”, in Through The Looking Glass:

     "Besides, if I'm only a sort of thing in his dream, what are you, I should like to know?" "Ditto," said Tweedledum. "Ditto, ditto!" cried Tweedledee.

Derived terms

• suit of dittoes
• ditto suit

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Portuguese

Noun

ditto m (plural dittos)

1. Obsolete spelling of dito

Adjective

1. Obsolete spelling of dito

Verb

ditto

1. Obsolete spelling of dito