tone

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• US: /ˈtoʊn/
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• rhymes with -əʊn
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• Received-Pronunciation: /ˈtəʊn/
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• Received-Pronunciation: [ˈthəʊ̯n]
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• Canada, General-American: /ˈtoʊn/
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• Canada, General-American: [ˈthoʊ̯n] ~ [ˈthəʊ̯n]
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• California: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• [ˈthoːn] monophthongization
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• Australian: /ˈtəʉ̯n/
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• Australian: [ˈthəʉ̯n]
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• New-Zealand: /ˈtɐʉn/
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• New-Zealand: [ˈthɐʉ̯n]
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• Scotland: /ˈton/
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• Scotland: [ˈthon]
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• Wales: /ˈtoːn/ without the toe–tow merger
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• Wales: [ˈthoːn] without the toe–tow merger
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• CMU ARPABET: T OW1 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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From Middle English ton, tone, from Latin tonus (“sound, tone”) (possibly through Old French ton), from Ancient Greek τόνος (tónos, “strain, tension, pitch”), from τείνω (teínō, “to stretch”). Doublet of tune, ton, tonos, and tonus.

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.

216 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Armenian: տոն (ton) — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• Bulgarian: тон (ton) — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• Catalan: to — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• Czech: tón — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• Danish: tone — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• Dutch: toon — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• Dutch: noot — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• Esperanto: tono — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• Finnish: ääni — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• Finnish: nuotti — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• French: ton — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• Friulian: ton — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• Galician: ton — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• Georgian: ტონი (ṭoni) — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• German: Ton — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• Ancient Greek: τόνος (tónos) — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• Greenlandic: nipi — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• Hebrew: צְלִיל (tslil) — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• Hebrew: טוֹן (ton) — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• Irish: ton — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• Italian: tono — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• Japanese: トーン (tōn) — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• Latvian: tonis — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• Lithuanian: tonas — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• Malagasy: nôty — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• Malay: nada — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• Persian: پرده (parde) — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• Polish: ton — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• Portuguese: tom — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• Russian: тон (ton) — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• Sanskrit: तान (tāna) — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• Spanish: tono — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• Swedish: ton — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• Tagalog: tono — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• Turkish: ton — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• Ottoman Turkish: سس (ses) — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• Vietnamese: tiếng — specific pitch, quality and duration; a note
• Basque: tonu — interval of a major second
• Bulgarian: цяла нота (cjala nota) — interval of a major second
• Chinese Cantonese: 全音 (cyun4 jam1) — interval of a major second
• Chinese Mandarin: 全音 (quányīn) — interval of a major second
• Czech: tón — interval of a major second
• Dutch: hele toon — interval of a major second
• Finnish: sävel — interval of a major second
• Finnish: kokosävel — interval of a major second
• French: ton — interval of a major second
• Galician: ton — interval of a major second
• Hebrew: טוֹן (ton) — interval of a major second
• Irish: ton — interval of a major second
• Lithuanian: tonas — interval of a major second
• Māori: waetahi — interval of a major second
• Portuguese: tom — interval of a major second
• Russian: тон (ton) — interval of a major second
• Spanish: tono — interval of a major second
• Swedish: helton — interval of a major second
• Vietnamese: nốt — interval of a major second
• German: Ton — recitational melody
• Malagasy: feo — recitational melody
• Bulgarian: интонация (intonacija) — character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice
• Danish: klang — character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice
• Dutch: toon — character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice
• Dutch: timbre — character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice
• Finnish: sointi — character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice
• Finnish: sointiväri — character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice
• Finnish: sävy — character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice
• German: Klang — character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice
• Greenlandic: nipi — character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice
• Hebrew: צְלִיל (tslil) — character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice
• Hebrew: טוֹן (ton) — character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice
• Irish: glór — character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice
• Latvian: tonis — character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice
• Lithuanian: tonas — character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice
• Malagasy: tondrom-peo — character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice
• Māori: waihoe — character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice
• Polish: barwa — character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice
• Polish: brzmienie — character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice
• Polish: ton — character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice
• Polish: zabarwienie — character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice
• Portuguese: tom — character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice
• Russian: тон (ton) — character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice
• Spanish: tono — character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice
• Swedish: klang — character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice
• Turkish: ton — character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice
• Vietnamese: âm sắc — character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice
• Vietnamese: tiếng — character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice
• Vietnamese: giọng — character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice
• Arabic: نَغْمَة (naḡma) — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Arabic: نَغْم (naḡm) — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Belarusian: тон (ton) — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Bulgarian: тон (ton) — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Burmese: အသံအနိမ့်အမြင့် (a.sam-a.nim.a.mrang.) — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Catalan: to — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Chinese Cantonese: 聲調 /声调 — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Chinese Cantonese: 聲 /声 (sing1) — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Hakka Chinese: 聲調 /声调 (sâng-thiau) — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Chinese: 聲調 /声调 (zh-min-nan) — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Chinese Mandarin: 聲調 /声调 (shēngdiào) — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Chinese Mandarin: 聲 /声 (shēng) — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Chinese Mandarin: 四聲 /四声 (sì shēng) — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Czech: tón — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Danish: tone — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Danish: tonefald — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Dutch: toon — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Finnish: tooni — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Finnish: sävelkorko — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• French: ton — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• German: Ton — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Hindi: लहजा (lahjā) — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Hungarian: tónus — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Indonesian: nada — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Irish: ton — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Japanese: 声調 (seichō) — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Japanese: トーン (tōn) — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Khmer: សូរ (soo, soora') — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Korean: 성조 (seongjo) — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Lao: ສຽງ (sīang) — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Lao: ວັນນະຍຸດ (wan na nyut) — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Latvian: tonis — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Latvian: intonācija — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Lithuanian: tonas — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Macedonian: тон (ton) — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Malagasy: haabom-peo — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Malay: ton — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Navajo: zhítsʼóóz — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Navajo: wódahí — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Navajo: náyaa — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Navajo: nádei — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Norwegian: tone — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Portuguese: tom — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Punjabi: ਸੁਰ (sur) — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Punjabi: سر (sr) — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Russian: тон (ton) — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Serbo-Croatian: тон — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Serbo-Croatian: ton — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Slovak: tón — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Slovene: ton — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Spanish: tono — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Thai: วรรณยุกต์ (wan-ná-yúk) — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Ukrainian: тон (ton) — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Vietnamese: thanh điệu — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Vietnamese: giọng — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Vietnamese: thanh — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Welsh: tôn — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Yiddish: טאָן (ton) — pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning
• Bulgarian: тон (ton) — manner in which speech or writing is expressed
• Catalan: to — manner in which speech or writing is expressed
• Danish: tone — manner in which speech or writing is expressed
• Danish: tonefald — manner in which speech or writing is expressed
• Dutch: toon — manner in which speech or writing is expressed
• Finnish: äänensävy — manner in which speech or writing is expressed
• German: Stimmung — manner in which speech or writing is expressed
• Irish: cuma — manner in which speech or writing is expressed
• Latvian: tonis — manner in which speech or writing is expressed
• Lithuanian: tonas — manner in which speech or writing is expressed
• Māori: hā — manner in which speech or writing is expressed
• Persian: لحن (lahn) — manner in which speech or writing is expressed
• Portuguese: tom — manner in which speech or writing is expressed
• Russian: интона́ция (intonácija) — manner in which speech or writing is expressed
• Russian: тон (ton) — manner in which speech or writing is expressed
• Spanish: tono — manner in which speech or writing is expressed
• Swedish: ton — manner in which speech or writing is expressed
• Tagalog: tono — manner in which speech or writing is expressed
• Thai: น้ําเสียง (náam-sǐiang) — manner in which speech or writing is expressed
• Turkish: ton — manner in which speech or writing is expressed
• Armenian: գուներանգ (gunerang) — shade or quality of a colour
• Bulgarian: тон (ton) — shade or quality of a colour
• Bulgarian: оттенък (ottenǎk) — shade or quality of a colour
• Catalan: to — shade or quality of a colour
• Danish: farvetone — shade or quality of a colour
• Danish: nuance — shade or quality of a colour
• Dutch: toon — shade or quality of a colour
• Finnish: sävy — shade or quality of a colour
• Finnish: väri — shade or quality of a colour
• German: Farbton — shade or quality of a colour
• Irish: ton — shade or quality of a colour
• Latvian: tonis — shade or quality of a colour
• Lithuanian: tonas — shade or quality of a colour
• Lithuanian: atspalvis — shade or quality of a colour
• Malay: tona — shade or quality of a colour
• Persian: تن (ton) — shade or quality of a colour
• Polish: odcień — shade or quality of a colour
• Portuguese: tom — shade or quality of a colour
• Russian: тон (ton) — shade or quality of a colour
• Russian: отте́нок (otténok) — shade or quality of a colour
• Spanish: tono — shade or quality of a colour
• Swedish: ton — shade or quality of a colour
• Swedish: nyans — shade or quality of a colour
• Turkish: ton — shade or quality of a colour
• Vietnamese: sắc — shade or quality of a colour
• Bulgarian: тоналност (tonalnost) — favourable effect of a picture
• Bulgarian: тонус (tonus) — firmness of a muscle or organ
• Czech: tonus — firmness of a muscle or organ
• Danish: tonus — firmness of a muscle or organ
• Danish: spændingstilstand — firmness of a muscle or organ
• Finnish: jänteys — firmness of a muscle or organ
• Lithuanian: tonusas — firmness of a muscle or organ
• Malagasy: hery — firmness of a muscle or organ
• Portuguese: tônus — firmness of a muscle or organ
• Portuguese: tono — firmness of a muscle or organ
• Russian: то́нус (tónus) — firmness of a muscle or organ
• Ukrainian: то́нус (tónus) — firmness of a muscle or organ
• Bulgarian: тонирам (toniram) — give a tone to
• Danish: tone — give a tone to
• Finnish: sävyttää — give a tone to
• Swedish: tona — give a tone to
• Bulgarian: тонирам (toniram) — change the colour of
• Danish: tone — change the colour of
• Finnish: värjätä — change the colour of
• Finnish: sävyttää — change the colour of
• Malagasy: mamadi-doko — change the colour of
• Swedish: tona — change the colour of
• Bulgarian: тонизирам (toniziram) — make (something) firmer
• Danish: forstærke — make (something) firmer
• Danish: styrke — make (something) firmer
• Finnish: jänteyttää — make (something) firmer
• Finnish: kiinteyttää — make (something) firmer