Etymology

atonal

A1T1O1N1A1L1

Today it means: Lacking a tonal center or key. Full definition →

English tonal ← Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-) ← Proto-Hellenic *ə-
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*né
  2. Proto-Indo-European*n̥-
  3. Proto-Hellenic*ə-
  4. Ancient Greekἀ- (a-)
  5. Englisha-
  6. Englishtonal
  7. English todayatonal

From a- + tonal.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.