tone

See also: Tone, Töne, and tonę

English

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin tonus (“sound, tone”) (or through Old French ton), from Ancient Greek τόνος (tónos, “strain, tension, pitch”), from τείνω (teínō, “I stretch”). Doublet of tune, ton, and tonus.

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: tōn, IPA^(key): /təʊn/
• (US) enPR: tōn, IPA^(key): /toʊn/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊn

Noun

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.
   • W. C. Bryant

     Their tone was dissatisfied, almost menacing.

9. (obsolete) State of mind; temper; mood.
   • Bolingbroke

     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.

Synonyms

• (an interval of a major second): whole tone

Derived terms

Derived terms

• betone
• dial tone
• halftone
• muscle tone
• semitone

• tonebar, tone bar
• tone of voice
• two-tone

Related terms

Related terms

• atonal
• diatonic
• intonation
• intone
• monotone

• ringtone
• tonal
• tonality
• tone-deaf
• tone-deafness

• toneme
• tonic
• tonicity
• tune

Translations

specific pitch, quality and duration; a note

• Armenian: տոն (hy) (ton)
• Catalan: to (ca) m
• Czech: tón (cs) m
• Danish: tone c
• Dutch: toon (nl) m, noot (nl) f, m
• Finnish: ääni (fi), nuotti (fi)
• French: ton (fr) m
• Friulian: ton m
• Galician: ton (gl) m
• Georgian: ტონი (ṭoni)
• German: Ton (de) m
• Greek:

  Ancient: τόνος m (tónos)

• Greenlandic: nipi
• Hebrew: צְלִיל‎ (he) m (tslil), טוֹן‎ (he) m (ton)

• Irish: ton m
• Italian: tono (it) m
• Japanese: トーン (ja) (tōn)
• Latvian: tonis m
• Lithuanian: tonas m
• Malagasy: nôty
• Malay: nada
• Polish: ton (pl) m
• Portuguese: tom (pt) m
• Russian: тон (ru) m (ton)
• Spanish: tono (es) m
• Swahili: kitone (sw) class 7/8
• Swedish: ton (sv) c
• Vietnamese: tiếng (vi)

interval of a major second

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 全音 (cyun⁴ jam¹)

  Mandarin: 全音 (zh) (quányīn)

• Czech: tón (cs) m
• Dutch: hele toon
• Finnish: sävel (fi), kokosävel
• French: ton (fr) m
• Galician: ton (gl) m
• Hebrew: טוֹן‎ (he) m (ton)

• Irish: ton m
• Lithuanian: tonas m
• Maori: waetahi
• Portuguese: tom (pt) m
• Russian: тон (ru) m (ton)
• Spanish: tono (es) m
• Swahili: kitone (sw) class 7/8
• Swedish: helton (sv) c
• Vietnamese: nốt (vi)

recitational melody

• German: Ton (de) m
• Malagasy: feo (mg)

• Swahili: kitone (sw) class 7/8

character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice

• Danish: klang c
• Dutch: toon (nl) m, timbre (nl)
• Finnish: sointi (fi), sointiväri (fi), sävy (fi)
• German: Klang (de) m
• Greenlandic: nipi
• Hebrew: צְלִיל‎ (he) m (tslil), טוֹן‎ (he) m (ton)
• Irish: glór m
• Latvian: tonis m

• Lithuanian: tonas m
• Malagasy: tondrom-peo
• Portuguese: tom (pt) m
• Russian: тон (ru) m (ton)
• Spanish: tono (es) m
• Swahili: kitone (sw) class 7/8
• Swedish: klang (sv) c
• Vietnamese: âm sắc (vi), tiếng (vi), giọng (vi)

pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning

• Arabic: نَغْمَة‎ f (naḡma), نَغْم‎ m (naḡm)
• Belarusian: тон m (ton)
• Bulgarian: тон (bg) m (ton)
• Burmese: အသံအနိမ့်အမြင့် (a.sam-a.nim.a.mrang.)
• Catalan: to (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 聲調, 声调 (sing¹ diu⁶), 聲, 声 (yue) (sing¹)

  Hakka: 聲調, 声调 (sâng-thiau)

  Mandarin: 聲調 (zh), 声调 (zh) (shēngdiào), 聲 (zh), 声 (zh) (shēng), (4 tones) 四聲 (zh), 四声 (zh) (sì shēng)

  Min Nan: 聲調 (zh-min-nan), 声调 (siaⁿ-tiāu)

• Czech: tón (cs) m
• Danish: tone c, tonefald
• Dutch: toon (nl) m
• Finnish: tooni (fi)
• French: ton (fr) m
• German: Ton (de) m
• Hindi: लहजा (hi) m (lahjā)
• Hungarian: tónus (hu)
• Indonesian: nada (id)
• Irish: ton m
• Japanese: 声調 (ja) (せいちょう, seichō), トーン (ja) (tōn)
• Khmer: សូរ (km) (soo, soora')
• Korean: 성조 (seongjo) (聲調 (ko))

• Lao: ສຽງ (lo) (sīang), ວັນນະຍຸດ (wan na nyut)
• Latvian: tonis m, intonācija f
• Lithuanian: tonas m
• Macedonian: тон m (ton)
• Malagasy: haabom-peo
• Malay: please add this translation if you can
• Navajo: zhítsʼóóz, wódahí (high tone), náyaa (falling tone), nádei (rising tone)
• Norwegian: tone (no)
• Portuguese: tom (pt) m
• Punjabi: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: тон (ru) m (ton)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: тон m

  Roman: ton (sh) m

• Slovak: tón m
• Slovene: ton (sl) m
• Spanish: tono (es) m
• Swahili: kitone (sw) class 7/8
• Thai: วรรณยุกต์ (th) (wan-ná-yúk)
• Ukrainian: тон m (ton)
• Vietnamese: thanh điệu (聲調), giọng (vi), thanh (vi)
• Welsh: tôn
• Yiddish: טאָן‎ (ton)

manner in which speech or writing is expressed

• Catalan: to (ca) m
• Danish: tone c, tonefald
• Dutch: toon (nl) m
• Finnish: äänensävy
• German: Stimmung (de) f
• Irish: cuma m
• Latvian: tonis m
• Lithuanian: tonas m

• Maori: hā
• Persian: لحن‎ (fa) (lahn)
• Portuguese: tom (pt) m
• Russian: интона́ция (ru) m (intonácija), тон (ru) m (ton)
• Spanish: tono (es) m
• Swahili: kitone (sw) class 7/8
• Swedish: ton (sv) c
• Thai: น้ำเสียง (th) (náam-sǐiang)

shade or quality of a colour

• Armenian: գուներանգ (hy) (gunerang)
• Catalan: to (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Danish: farvetone, nuance
• Dutch: toon (nl) m
• Finnish: sävy (fi), väri (fi)
• German: Farbton (de) m
• Irish: ton m
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Latvian: tonis m

• Lithuanian: tonas, atspalvis (lt) m
• Malay: tona
• Persian: تن‎ (fa) (ton)
• Polish: odcień (pl) m
• Portuguese: tom (pt) m
• Russian: тон (ru) m (ton), отте́нок (ru) m (otténok)
• Spanish: tono (es) m
• Swahili: kitone (sw) class 7/8
• Swedish: ton (sv) c, nyans (sv) c
• Vietnamese: sắc (vi)

firmness of a muscle or organ

• Czech: tonus m
• Danish: tonus, spændingstilstand
• Finnish: jänteys
• Lithuanian: tonusas m

• Malagasy: hery (mg)
• Russian: то́нус (ru) m (tónus)
• Swahili: kitone (sw) class 7/8

sheets of sticky plastic with dots printed on them used to create comic books

• Swahili: kitone (sw) class 7/8

Verb

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

• (give a particular tone to):
• (change the colour of): color/colour, dye, paint, tint
• (make firmer): firm, firm up, tone up
• (harmonize): harmonise/harmonize
• (utter with an affected tone):

Derived terms

• betone
• toned
• tone down
• toner
• tone up
• tony, toney (affected tone)

Translations

give a tone to

• Danish: tone
• Finnish: sävyttää (fi)

• Swahili: kitone (sw)
• Swedish: tona

change the colour of

• Danish: tone
• Finnish: värjätä (fi), sävyttää (fi)
• Malagasy: mamadi-doko

• Swahili: kitone (sw)
• Swedish: tona

make (something) firmer

• Danish: forstærke, styrke
• Finnish: vankistaa

• Swahili: kitone (sw)

harmonize, especially in colour

• Danish: harmonisere
• Finnish: saattaa sopusointuun
• Malagasy: mampirindra

• Russian: гармони́ровать (ru) (garmonírovatʹ)
• Swahili: kitone (sw)

Etymology 2

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

tone

1. (now dialectal) The one (of two).
   • 1485 July 31, Thomas Malory, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [Le Morte Darthur], (please specify the book number), [London]: […] [by William Caxton], OCLC 71490786; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: Published by David Nutt, […], 1889, OCLC 890162034:

     , Bk.X, Ch.lxiij:

     So wythin the thirde day, there cam to the cité thes two brethirne: the tone hyght Sir Helyus and the other hyght Helake

Further reading

• tone in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• tone in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• ETNO, Eton, Note, ento-, note, teno-

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Afrikaans

Noun

tone

1. plural of toon

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Danish

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /toːnə/, [ˈtˢoːnə]

Noun

tone c (singular definite tonen, plural indefinite toner)

1. tone
2. note

Declension

Declension of tone

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

Verb

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

• “tone” in Den Danske Ordbog

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

tone

1. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of tonen

Anagrams

• toen

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Latin

Noun

tone

1. vocative singular of tonus

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Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

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

Noun

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

1. a tone (sound, colour etc.)

Derived terms

• halvtone

References

• “tone” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /²tuːnə/

Noun

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

1. a tone (sound, colour etc.)

Derived terms

• halvtone
• tonekunst

References

• “tone” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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Swahili

Noun

tone (ma class, plural matone)

1. drop