tonne

See also: Tonne, tonné, and tønne

English

Alternative forms

• t (abbreviation)

Etymology

From French tonne. Doublet of ton and tun.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /tʌn/, /tʊn/, /tɒn/, /tʌniː/, enPR: tŭn, to͝on, tŏn, tŭnē
• (US) IPA^(key): /tʌn/, enPR: tŭn

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

  • Homophones: ton, tun, tunny
  • Rhymes: -ʌn, -ʊn, -ɒn

Noun

tonne (plural tonnes)

1. (outside U.S.) A unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms.

   Synonyms: metric ton, megagram

   • 1961 February, “Letters to the Editor: Swiss railways”, in Trains Illustrated, page 126:

     Although loads of up to 900 tonnes could be handled by one of these locomotives, in practice the load is limited to 790 tonnes by drawgear.

   • 1971, Transactions of the Royal Institute of Naval Arcihtects, volume 113, page 215:

     The metric ton or 'tonne' is accepted as a synonym for the megagramme, and this form Is to be preferred on the grounds of brevity and familiarity in the industry. It may be as well to use the pronunciation 'tunnie' until the risk of confusion with the old ton has passed.

   • 1972 May, Which:

     The British Steel Corporation, going metric but realising the possible confusion between a ton and a tonne (1,000 kilograms) has directed its staff to pronounce ‘tonne’ ‘tunnie’.

   • 2002, Richard Chapman, Physics for Geologists, CRC Press, published 2002, →ISBN, page 138:

     The tonne rhymes with con (perhaps not in North America!) to distinguish it from the non-SI unit of weight, the ton rhyming with bun.

Usage notes

Even in British and Commonwealth use, the Americanism metric ton is sometimes employed where confusion might arise with the traditional English tons of 2000 or 2240 pounds. Alternatively, variant pronunciations of tonne have been promoted to help clarify its meaning. In particular, the British steel industry advocated for the pronunciation /ˈtʌni/ ("tunnie") during the 1970s and /tɒn/ (rhyming with "Don") is sometimes used for the same purpose.

Derived terms

• meter-tonne-second

 

Anagrams

• Tenno, nonet, tenno, tenon

Estonian

Noun

tonne

1. partitive plural of tonn

Finnish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtonːeˣ/, [ˈt̪o̞nːe̞(ʔ)]
• Rhymes: -onːe
• Syllabification^(key): ton‧ne

Adverb

tonne (colloquial)

1. (of movement) Alternative form of tuonne (“there (when the speaker points at the place)”)

   Me mentiin tonne.

   We went there.

Further reading

• “tonne”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[1] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-03

Anagrams

• neton, onnet

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɔn/

• audio

  (file)

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old French, from Vulgar Latin tunna, tonna, itself from a Celtic word cognate to Irish tonn.

Noun

tonne f (plural tonnes)

1. tonne, metric ton
2. ton

Derived terms

• en faire des tonnes

Verb

tonne

1. inflection of tonner:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Etymology 2

Compare tonnelet (English tonlet).

Noun

tonne f (plural tonnes)

1. (historical) a tonlet; a piece of medieval European armor of articulated lames or long flared metal skirt protecting the hips and thighs
   • 1885, Brussels (Belgium). Musées royaux des arts décoratifs et industriels, Catalogue des armes et armures, page 70:

     Pour combattre à pied, les gentilshommes employaient une armure spéciale qui, à cause de sa longue jupe de fer évasée et sans tassettes, s’appelait tonnelet, armure à tonne, armure pour combattre à pied; […]
     XVIe siècle. Une belle armure à tonne, ayant […]

     To fight on foot, gentlemen employed a special armour which, because of its long iron skirt, flared and without tassets, is called tonlet, tonne armour, armour for fighting on foot; […]
     16th century. A beautiful tonne armour, having […]

   • 2008, Marie-Anne Michaux, Glossaire des termes militaires du seizième siècle: complément du Dictionnaire de la langue française du XVIe siècle d'Edmond Huguet, Honoré Champion, →ISBN:

     Ces harnois peuvent être à tonne ou tonnelet, c’est-à-dire avec une sorte de jupe de métal évasée protégeant le haut des jambes. Ils peuvent aussi être construits à la manière d’une « combinaison » : le bas du corps est recouvert […]

     These harnesses could be tonne or tonlet, that is to say, with a sort of metal flared skirt protecting the top of the legs. They could also be constructed in the manner of a "combination": the bottom of the body is covered […]

Further reading

• “tonne”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Neapolitan

Adjective

tonne f pl

1. feminine plural of tunno

Woccon

Etymology

Compare Catawba nepe(ⁿ), nəpe(ⁿ), nepaⁿ, dəpe(ⁿ), dapa(ⁿ), dəpən, dube. Compare also noponne, which features in the word for "ten". Two Proto-Siouan roots for "one" can be reconstructed: Proto-Siouan-Catawban *nǫ(ːsa), rǫ(ːsa) (apparently whence this word) and *wįyą, each one found in one branch and almost entirely missing from the other. (*nǫ is importantly also found in Quapaw hi nǫxtį "once, one time", where -xtį is the morpheme denoting "_ times".)

Numeral

tonne

1. one

References

• A Vocabulary of Woccon →ISBN, extracted from A New Voyage to Carolina by John Lawson