tonto
English edit
Pronunciation edit
Audio (AU) (file)
Etymology 1 edit
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 edit
tonto (plural tontos)
- (slang) Synonym of idiot: someone who is foolish or stupid.
- 1973, Robert Ludlum, Trevayne, page 153:
- Even us tontos figured that one out.
Adjective edit
tonto (comparative more tonto, superlative most tonto)
- (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:
- 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.
- 1982 Feb. 26, New York Times, A10:
Usage notes edit
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 edit
Noun edit
tonto (uncountable)
References edit
- “tonto, n. and adj.”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2019.
Anagrams edit
Asturian edit
Adjective edit
tonto
Galician edit
Etymology edit
Unknown. Compare Asturian tontu, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese tonto, Romanian tont or tânt.
Pronunciation edit
Adjective edit
tonto (feminine tonta, masculine plural tontos, feminine plural tontas)
Noun edit
tonto m (plural tontos, feminine tonta, feminine plural tontas)
Derived terms edit
References edit
- “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 edit
Etymology edit
Of unclear origin. Compare Portuguese tonto, Romanian tont or tânt, and Spanish tonto.
Pronunciation edit
Adjective edit
tonto (feminine tonta, masculine plural tonti, feminine plural tonte)
Derived terms edit
Noun edit
tonto m (plural tonti, feminine tonta)
Further reading edit
- tonto in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
Portuguese edit
Etymology edit
Of unclear origin. Compare Italian tonto, Romanian tont or tânt, and Spanish tonto.
Pronunciation edit
- Hyphenation: ton‧to
Adjective edit
tonto (feminine tonta, masculine plural tontos, feminine plural tontas)
Noun edit
tonto m (plural tontos, feminine tonta, feminine plural tontas)
- a fool, a stupid person
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:idiota
Related terms edit
Spanish edit
Etymology edit
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 edit
Adjective edit
tonto (feminine tonta, masculine plural tontos, feminine plural tontas)
Derived terms edit
- 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 edit
Noun edit
tonto m (plural tontos, feminine tonta, feminine plural tontas)
Usage notes edit
- 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 edit
Related terms edit
References edit
- 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 edit
- “tonto”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
Tagalog edit
Etymology edit
Pronunciation edit
Adjective edit
tonto (feminine tonta, Baybayin spelling ᜆᜓᜈ᜔ᜆᜓ)
Noun edit
tonto (feminine tonta, Baybayin spelling ᜆᜓᜈ᜔ᜆᜓ)
Further reading edit
- “tonto”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018