Etymology

microtonal

M3I1C3R1O1T1O1N1A1L1

Today it means: Of, relating to, or written using microtones. Full definition →

English tonal ← Ancient Greek μῑκρο- (mīkro-) ← Proto-Indo-European *mey-der.?
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*mey-der.?
  2. Ancient Greekμῑκρός (mīkrós)
  3. Ancient Greekμῑκρο- (mīkro-)
  4. Englishmicro-
  5. Englishtonal
  6. English todaymicrotonal

From micro- + tonal.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.