tone

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See also: Tone, Töne, and tonę

English[edit]

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English ton, tone, from Latin tonus (“sound, tone”) (possibly through Old French ton[1]), from Ancient Greek τόνος (tónos, “strain, tension, pitch”), from τείνω (teínō, “I stretch”). Doublet of tune, ton, and tonus.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

tone (plural tones)

  1. (music) A specific pitch.
  2. (music) (in the diatonic scale) An interval of a major second.
  3. (music) (in a Gregorian chant) A recitational melody.
  4. The character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice.
  5. General character, mood, or trend.
    Her rousing speech gave an upbeat tone to the rest of the evening.
  6. (linguistics) The pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning, for example in Chinese.
  7. (dated) A whining style of speaking; a kind of mournful or artificial strain of voice; an affected speaking with a measured rhythm and a regular rise and fall of the voice.
    Children often read with a tone.
  8. (literature) The manner in which speech or writing is expressed.
  9. (obsolete) State of mind; temper; mood.
    • c. 1714 (undated), Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke, letter to Alexander Pope
      The strange situation I am in and the melancholy state of public affairs, […] drag the mind down […] from a philosophical tone or temper, to the drudgery of private and public business.
  10. The shade or quality of a colour.
    • 2017, Adam Rutherford, A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived, The Experiment, →ISBN, page 81:
      We make crude visual distinctions and effectively meaningless categorizations based on average skin tones, such as black or white.
  11. The favourable effect of a picture produced by the combination of light and shade, or of colours.
    This picture has tone.
  12. The definition and firmness of a muscle or organ; see also: tonus.
  13. (biology) The state of a living body or of any of its organs or parts in which the functions are healthy and performed with due vigor.
  14. (biology) Normal tension or responsiveness to stimuli.
  15. (African-American Vernacular, slang) a gun
    • 1993, 8Ball (lyrics), “9 Little Millimeta Boys”, in Comin’ Out Hard:
      But nigga don't step wrong, cuz 8ball keep a tone
    • 1994, Princess Loko (lyrics), “Murda In Da 1st Degree”, in Ashes 2 Ashes, Dust 2 Dust:
      M.A.C.T.D.O.G got the tone so hoe you know it's on
    • 2011, Project Pat (lyrics), “Dollar Signs (Remix)”, in Loud pack:
      Got the tone to ya head yo life flashing right front your eyes


Synonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Derived terms
Related terms[edit]
Related terms
Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

tone (third-person singular simple present tones, present participle toning, simple past and past participle toned)

  1. (transitive) to give a particular tone to
  2. (transitive) to change the colour of
  3. (transitive) to make (something) firmer
  4. (intransitive) to harmonize, especially in colour
  5. (transitive) to utter with an affected tone.
Synonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

From Middle English tone, ton, toon, from the incorrect division of thet one (“the/that one”). Compare Scots tane in the tane; see also tother.

Pronoun[edit]

tone

  1. (now dialectal) the one (of two)

Further reading[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ “Tone”, in Dictionary.com‎[1], 2020

Anagrams[edit]

Afrikaans[edit]

Noun[edit]

tone

  1. plural of toon

Danish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Norse tóni, from Latin tonus (“sound, tone”), from Ancient Greek τόνος (tónos, “strain, tension, pitch”), from τείνω (teínō, “I stretch”).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /toːnə/, [ˈtˢoːnə]

Noun[edit]

tone c (singular definite tonen, plural indefinite toner)

  1. tone
  2. note

Declension[edit]

Declension of tone
common
gender 		Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative tone tonen toner tonerne
genitive tones tonens toners tonernes

Verb[edit]

tone (imperative ton, infinitive at tone, present tense toner, past tense tonede, perfect tense har tonet)

  1. to sound
  2. to tone
  3. to tint

References[edit]

Dutch[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

tone

  1. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of tonen

Anagrams[edit]

Latin[edit]

Noun[edit]

tone

  1. vocative singular of tonus

Middle English[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

tone

  1. the one (of two)

Norwegian Bokmål[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Norse tóni, from Latin tonus (“sound, tone”), from Ancient Greek τόνος (tónos, “strain, tension, pitch”), from τείνω (teínō, “I stretch”).

Noun[edit]

tone m (definite singular tonen, indefinite plural toner, definite plural tonene)

  1. a tone (sound, colour etc.)

Derived terms[edit]

References[edit]

Norwegian Nynorsk[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Norse tóni, from Latin tonus (“sound, tone”), from Ancient Greek τόνος (tónos, “strain, tension, pitch”), from τείνω (teínō, “I stretch”).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

tone m (definite singular tonen, indefinite plural tonar, definite plural tonane)

  1. a tone (sound, colour etc.)

Derived terms[edit]

References[edit]

Tokelauan[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English ton.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈto.ne/
  • Hyphenation: to‧ne

Noun[edit]

tone

  1. ton

Alternative forms[edit]

References[edit]

  • R. Simona, editor (1986) Tokelau Dictionary‎[2], Auckland: Office of Tokelau Affairs, page 397

Swahili[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

tone (ma class, plural matone)

  1. drop
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