tonto

See also: Tonto

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Etymology 1

From Spanish tonto (“stupid, foolish; idiot, fool”), of uncertain etymology. Originally in US use but now chiefly British. Cf. earlier Tonto, with which it is sometimes confused.

Noun

tonto (plural tontos)

1. (slang) Synonym of idiot: someone who is foolish or stupid.
   • 1973, Robert Ludlum, Trevayne, page 153:

     Even us tontos figured that one out.

Adjective

tonto (comparative more tonto, superlative most tonto)

1. (slang, possibly offensive) Synonym of crazy.
   • 1982 Feb. 26, New York Times, A10:

     He told the businessmen that the law that required the certification by the President was ‘tonto’.

   • 1985 Jan. 31, Listener, p. 34:

     His two heroes are both ex-FO types and both terminally tonto about cricket.

   • 2011, Gil McNeil, Stand by Your Man, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:

     Yes, and then I got drunk one night and snogged one of his friends, and he went tonto.

   • 2014, Ben Elton, Time and Time Again, Random House, →ISBN:

     AMERICA! The richest prize on the bloody planet. Gone, for want of a few paltry seats on the cross benches. George the bloody Third wasn't just mad, he was completely tonto!

   • 2021 Feb. 23, Robert Ben L. Wallace, comment at Horse Guards:

     Whether you're based in Cyprus or you know we do longer tours in Kenya or Oman or are busy just making it to the brigade at the moment up in Estonia, you know it's going to be a busy army and unfortunately we've got a busy adversary now in Putin. Gone full tonto, I think, as I'd say, and you know that's going to be quite... We've got 1,000 people on standby.

   Oi, bruv. He's gone full tonto.

Usage notes

Because of the Native American sense of Tonto popularized by its use as the name of the sidekick of the Lone Ranger, even as a Spanish loanword this term can be understood as a racial slur in English, due to the translation from Spanish to stupid or slow witted. However the word is also found in the Apache language and here translates into “wild one”

Etymology 2

Noun

tonto (uncountable)

1. a traditional Ugandan fermented beverage made from bananas

References

• “tonto, n. and adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2019.

Anagrams

• Toton

Asturian

Adjective

tonto

1. neuter of tontu

Galician

Etymology

Unknown. Compare Asturian tontu, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese tonto, Romanian tont or tânt.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈtontʊ]

Adjective

tonto (feminine tonta, masculine plural tontos, feminine plural tontas)

1. foolish, stupid

   Synonym: parvo

2. silly

   Synonym: parvo

Noun

tonto m (plural tontos, feminine tonta, feminine plural tontas)

1. a fool

   Synonym: parvo

Derived terms

• atontecer

References

• “tonto” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “tonto” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “tonto” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

Italian

Etymology

Of unclear origin. Compare Portuguese tonto, Romanian tont or tânt, and Spanish tonto.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈton.to/
• Rhymes: -onto
• Hyphenation: tón‧to

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

tonto (feminine tonta, masculine plural tonti, feminine plural tonte)

1. stupid, silly, dumb, foolish

Derived terms

• intontire

Noun

tonto m (plural tonti, feminine tonta)

1. a fool, a stupid person
2. goof

Further reading

• tonto in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Portuguese

Etymology

Of unclear origin. Compare Italian tonto, Romanian tont or tânt, and Spanish tonto.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtõ.tu/

• Hyphenation: ton‧to

Adjective

tonto (feminine tonta, masculine plural tontos, feminine plural tontas)

1. dizzy
2. stupid

   Synonyms: anormal, bobo, estúpido, idiota, pateta; see also Thesaurus:idiota

3. silly, foolish

   Synonyms: bobo, pateta, tolo

Noun

tonto m (plural tontos, feminine tonta, feminine plural tontas)

1. a fool, a stupid person

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:idiota

Related terms

• tontaria
• tontice

 

Spanish

Etymology

Uncertain. Latin attonitus has been proposed, but there are phonological difficulties, namely unexpected loss of initial /a/ and lack of diphthongization; cf. the expected outcome atuendo. Tonto may have an expressive or onomatopoeic origin. Another hypothesis is that it derives from *tontum, a 'vulgar' past participle for Latin tondeo (“to shear”). Compare Italian tonto, Portuguese tonto, and Romanian tont, tânt.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtonto/ [ˈt̪õn̪.t̪o]
• Rhymes: -onto
• Syllabification: ton‧to

Adjective

tonto (feminine tonta, masculine plural tontos, feminine plural tontas)

1. stupid

   Synonyms: bobo, estúpido, idiota, retrasado, subnormal, tarado

2. silly, foolish

   Synonym: bobo

Derived terms

• a tontas y a locas
• architonto
• caja tonta
• dame pan y llámame tonto
• dar más mal que un hijo tonto
• hacerse el tonto
• más tonto que Abundio
• más tonto que mandado hacer de encargo
• no tener un pelo de tonto
• salir más caro que un hijo tonto
• tontísimo
• tonto de capirote
• tonto del culo
• tonto del haba
• tonto el último
• tontón (augmentative)

 

Descendants

• → Tetelcingo Nahuatl: tunto
• → Tagalog: tonto

Noun

tonto m (plural tontos, feminine tonta, feminine plural tontas)

1. a fool, a stupid person

Usage notes

• Although in some contexts zonzo, bobo, tonto, menso, culero, tarado, idiota, imbécil, estúpido and pendejo may be synonyms, in most contexts they have a different degree of intensity, with zonzo having the mildest connotation, increasing in intensity in that rough order, to estúpido and pendejo, which have the most offensive meaning.

Derived terms

• hacer el tonto
• mal de muchos, consuelo de tontos
• pan con pan, comida de tontos
• tonto del haba

 

Related terms

• atontar
• entontecer
• tontada
• tontaina
• tontear
• tontera
• tontería
• tontón
• tontorrón

 

References

• Badia i Margarit, Antoni M. (ed.) 2006. Homenatge de l'IEC a Joan Coromines, en el centenari de la seva naixença. Barcelona: Institut d'estudis Catalans. Pages 68–70.

Further reading

• “tonto”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish tonto.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtonto/, [ˈton.to]
• Hyphenation: ton‧to

Adjective

tonto (feminine tonta, Baybayin spelling ᜆᜓᜈ᜔ᜆᜓ)

1. (informal, vulgar, offensive) stupid; foolish; silly

   Synonyms: bobo, tanga, tunggak, gunggong, estupido

Noun

tonto (feminine tonta, Baybayin spelling ᜆᜓᜈ᜔ᜆᜓ)

1. (informal, vulgar, offensive) fool; idiot; simpleton; dunce

   Synonyms: bobo, tanga, inutil, gunggong, estupido

Further reading

• “tonto”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018