Etymology

halftone

H4A1L1F4T1O1N1E1

Today it means: Synonym of semitone, half the interval between two notes on a scale. Full definition →

English tone ← Middle English tone ← Latin tonus
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The story

  1. Englishhalf-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*ten-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*tónos
  4. Proto-Hellenic*tónos
  5. Ancient Greekτόνος (tónos)
  6. Latintonus
  7. Middle Englishtone
  8. Englishtone
  9. English todayhalftone

From half- + tone.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.