tonal

See also: tonął and tónál

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtoʊnəl/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtəʊnəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊnəl

Etymology 1

From tone +‎ -al.

Adjective

tonal (comparative more tonal, superlative most tonal)

1. Of or relating to tones or tonality.
2. Of or relating to the general character, mood, or trend of something.
   • 2011 December 5, James Poniewozik, “Boardwalk Empire Watch: Mother, May I Sleep With Danger?”, in Time‎^[1]:

     The lurid way the story played out felt like a tonal shift for Empire, but not necessarily a bad one—in the process of shedding its cool costume-drama attitude for grotesque family dysfunction, the episode felt for once less like a story about Prohibition and more one about a specific set of people.

3. (music) Employing tones that have a predictable relationship to some tonic.
4. (linguistics) Employing differences in pitch (tones) to distinguish differences in the meaning of otherwise similar words (words which would otherwise be homophonic).

Antonyms

• atonal

Derived terms

• nontonal
• tonal center
• tonal noise

Related terms

• tonality
• tonally

Translations

of or relating to tones or tonality

• Bulgarian: тонален (tonalen)
• Catalan: tonal
• Dutch: tonaal (nl)
• Finnish: tonaalinen (fi)
• French: tonal (fr)
• German: tonal (de)
• Irish: tonúil
• Italian: tonale (it)
• Portuguese: tonal (pt)
• Romanian: tonal (ro)
• Russian: тона́льный (ru) m (tonálʹnyj), то́новый (ru) m (tónovyj)
• Spanish: tonal

employing tones that have a predictable relationship to some tonic

• Finnish: tonaalinen (fi)
• German: tonal (de)
• Irish: tonúil
• Spanish: tonal

employing differences in pitch to distinguish differences in meaning

• Finnish: tonaalinen (fi)
• German: tonal (de)
• Irish: tonúil
• Italian: tonale (it)
• Romanian: tonal (ro)

Etymology 2

From Nahuatl tōnalli (“day, day sign”).

Alternative forms

• tona

Noun

tonal (plural tonals)

1. (in Mesoamerican mythology) An animal companion which accompanies a person from birth to death.
   • 1989, Robert Bartley Taylor, Indians of Middle America: an introduction to the ethnology of Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, page 122:

     When a tonal suffers misfortune or death, the same thing happens to the person associated with it.

Related terms

• tonalli

See also

• nahual

Anagrams

• Alton, Laton, Talon, Tolan, Tolna, laton, notal, talon

Central Nahuatl

Alternative forms

• (Amecameca): tonatih
• (Milpa Alta): tonaltzintli

Etymology

From Classical Nahuatl tonatiuh.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /toːˈna.l/

Noun

tonal

1. (Tlaxcala) sun

French

Etymology

From ton +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

tonal (feminine tonale, masculine plural tonals or tonaux, feminine plural tonales)

1. tonal

Further reading

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

German

Etymology

Ton +‎ -al

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /toˈnaːl/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

tonal (strong nominative masculine singular tonaler, comparative tonaler, superlative am tonalsten)

1. tonal

Declension

Positive forms of tonal

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist tonal	sie ist tonal	es ist tonal	sie sind tonal
strong declension (without article)	nominative	tonaler	tonale	tonales	tonale
	genitive	tonalen	tonaler	tonalen	tonaler
	dative	tonalem	tonaler	tonalem	tonalen
	accusative	tonalen	tonale	tonales	tonale
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der tonale	die tonale	das tonale	die tonalen
	genitive	des tonalen	der tonalen	des tonalen	der tonalen
	dative	dem tonalen	der tonalen	dem tonalen	den tonalen
	accusative	den tonalen	die tonale	das tonale	die tonalen
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein tonaler	eine tonale	ein tonales	(keine) tonalen
	genitive	eines tonalen	einer tonalen	eines tonalen	(keiner) tonalen
	dative	einem tonalen	einer tonalen	einem tonalen	(keinen) tonalen
	accusative	einen tonalen	eine tonale	ein tonales	(keine) tonalen

Comparative forms of tonal

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist tonaler	sie ist tonaler	es ist tonaler	sie sind tonaler
strong declension (without article)	nominative	tonalerer	tonalere	tonaleres	tonalere
	genitive	tonaleren	tonalerer	tonaleren	tonalerer
	dative	tonalerem	tonalerer	tonalerem	tonaleren
	accusative	tonaleren	tonalere	tonaleres	tonalere
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der tonalere	die tonalere	das tonalere	die tonaleren
	genitive	des tonaleren	der tonaleren	des tonaleren	der tonaleren
	dative	dem tonaleren	der tonaleren	dem tonaleren	den tonaleren
	accusative	den tonaleren	die tonalere	das tonalere	die tonaleren
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein tonalerer	eine tonalere	ein tonaleres	(keine) tonaleren
	genitive	eines tonaleren	einer tonaleren	eines tonaleren	(keiner) tonaleren
	dative	einem tonaleren	einer tonaleren	einem tonaleren	(keinen) tonaleren
	accusative	einen tonaleren	eine tonalere	ein tonaleres	(keine) tonaleren

Superlative forms of tonal

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist am tonalsten	sie ist am tonalsten	es ist am tonalsten	sie sind am tonalsten
strong declension (without article)	nominative	tonalster	tonalste	tonalstes	tonalste
	genitive	tonalsten	tonalster	tonalsten	tonalster
	dative	tonalstem	tonalster	tonalstem	tonalsten
	accusative	tonalsten	tonalste	tonalstes	tonalste
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der tonalste	die tonalste	das tonalste	die tonalsten
	genitive	des tonalsten	der tonalsten	des tonalsten	der tonalsten
	dative	dem tonalsten	der tonalsten	dem tonalsten	den tonalsten
	accusative	den tonalsten	die tonalste	das tonalste	die tonalsten
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein tonalster	eine tonalste	ein tonalstes	(keine) tonalsten
	genitive	eines tonalsten	einer tonalsten	eines tonalsten	(keiner) tonalsten
	dative	einem tonalsten	einer tonalsten	einem tonalsten	(keinen) tonalsten
	accusative	einen tonalsten	eine tonalste	ein tonalstes	(keine) tonalsten

Further reading

• “tonal” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “tonal” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “tonal” in Duden online

Highland Puebla Nahuatl

Alternative forms

• to̱nal

Noun

tonal

1. sun

Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin tonus +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /toˈnaw/ [toˈnaʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /tuˈnal/ [tuˈnaɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /tuˈnal/ [tuˈnaɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /tuˈna.li/

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: to‧nal

Adjective

tonal m or f (plural tonais, not comparable)

1. tonal

Derived terms

• tonalmente

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French tonal. By surface analysis, ton (tone) +‎ -al.

Adjective

tonal m or n (feminine singular tonală, masculine plural tonali, feminine and neuter plural tonale)

1. tonal

Declension

Declension of tonal

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	tonal		tonală		tonali	tonale
	definite	tonalul		tonala		tonalii	tonalele
genitive- dative	indefinite	tonal		tonale		tonali	tonale
	definite	tonalului		tonalei		tonalilor	tonalelor

Related terms

• atonal
• ton
• tonalitate

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /toˈnal/ [t̪oˈnal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: to‧nal

Adjective

tonal m or f (masculine and feminine plural tonales)

1. tonal

Derived terms

• altura tonal
• atonal
• bitonal
• sandhi tonal
• tonalidad
• tonalmente

Related terms

• tono

Further reading

• “tonal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10