tonto

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See also: Tonto

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Borrowed 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

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tonto (plural tontos)

  1. (slang) Synonym of idiot: someone who is foolish or stupid.

Adjective

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tonto (comparative more tonto, superlative most tonto)

  1. (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:
      His two heroes are both ex-FO types and both terminally tonto about cricket.
    • 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.
    Oi, bruv. He's gone full tonto.
Usage notes
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  • 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

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Noun

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

tonto (uncountable)

  1. a traditional Ugandan fermented beverage made from bananas

References

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Anagrams

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Asturian

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Adjective

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tonto

  1. neuter of tontu

Galician

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Etymology

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Unknown. Compare Asturian tontu, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese tonto, Romanian tont or tânt.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈtonto/ [ˈt̪on̪.t̪ʊ]
  • Rhymes: -onto
  • Hyphenation: ton‧to

Adjective

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tonto (feminine tonta, masculine plural tontos, feminine plural tontas)

  1. foolish, stupid
    Synonym: parvo
  2. silly
    Synonym: parvo

Noun

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tonto m (plural tontos, feminine tonta, feminine plural tontas)

  1. a fool
    Synonym: parvo

Derived terms

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References

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Italian

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Etymology

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Of unclear origin. Compare Portuguese tonto, Romanian tont or tânt, and Spanish tonto.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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tonto (feminine tonta, masculine plural tonti, feminine plural tonte)

  1. stupid, silly, dumb, foolish

Derived terms

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Noun

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tonto m (plural tonti, feminine tonta)

  1. a fool, a stupid person
  2. goof

Further reading

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  • tonto in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Portuguese

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Etymology

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Of unclear origin. Compare Italian tonto, Romanian tont or tânt, and Spanish tonto.

Pronunciation

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  • Hyphenation: ton‧to

Adjective

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tonto (feminine tonta, masculine plural tontos, feminine plural tontas)

  1. dizzy
  2. stupid
    Synonyms: anormal, bobo, estúpido, idiota, pateta; see also Thesaurus:idiota
  3. silly, foolish
    Synonyms: bobo, pateta, tolo

Noun

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tonto m (plural tontos, feminine tonta, feminine plural tontas)

  1. a fool, a stupid person
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:idiota
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Spanish

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Spanish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia es

Etymology

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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

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  • IPA(key): /ˈtonto/ [ˈt̪õn̪.t̪o]
  • Rhymes: -onto
  • Syllabification: ton‧to

Adjective

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tonto (feminine tonta, masculine plural tontos, feminine plural tontas)

  1. stupid
    Synonyms: bobo, estúpido, idiota, retrasado, subnormal, tarado
  2. silly, foolish
    Synonym: bobo

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • → Tetelcingo Nahuatl: tunto
  • → Tagalog: tonto

Noun

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tonto m (plural tontos, feminine tonta, feminine plural tontas)

  1. a fool, a stupid person

Usage notes

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  • 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

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References

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  • 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

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Tagalog

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Spanish tonto.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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tonto (feminine tonta, Baybayin spelling ᜆᜓᜈ᜔ᜆᜓ)

  1. (informal, vulgar, offensive) stupid; foolish; silly
    Synonyms: bobo, tanga, tunggak, gunggong, estupido

Noun

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tonto (feminine tonta, Baybayin spelling ᜆᜓᜈ᜔ᜆᜓ)

  1. (informal, vulgar, offensive) fool; idiot; simpleton; dunce
    Synonyms: bobo, tanga, inutil, gunggong, estupido

Further reading

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  • “tonto”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018
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