tone

English

/təʊn/, /toʊn/

noun
Definitions
  • (music) A specific pitch.
  • (music) (in the diatonic scale) An interval of a major second.
  • (music) (in a Gregorian chant) A recitational melody.
  • The character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice.
  • General character, mood, or trend.
  • (linguistics) The pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning, for example in Chinese.
  • (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.
  • (literature) The manner in which speech or writing is expressed.
  • (obsolete) State of mind; temper; mood.
  • The shade or quality of a colour.
  • The favourable effect of a picture produced by the combination of light and shade, or of colours.
  • The definition and firmness of a muscle or organ; see also: tonus.
  • (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.
  • (biology) Normal tension or responsiveness to stimuli.
  • (AAVE) a gun

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin tonus (tone, sound, thunderclap, a sound) borrowed from Old French ton derived from Ancient Greek τόνος (tension, strain, tone, pitch, rope, a tone, chord, sound, something stretched).

Origin

Ancient Greek

τόνος

Gloss

tension, strain, tone, pitch, rope, a tone, chord, sound, something stretched

Concept
Semantic Field

Food and drink

Ontological Category

Action/Process

Kanji

音

Emoji

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms