Etymology

polytonic

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Today it means: Having several tones. Full definition →

English tonic ← Ancient Greek τονῐκός (tonĭkós) ← Proto-Hellenic *tónos
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*pleh₁-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*polh₁ús
  3. Ancient Greekπολῠ́ς (polŭ́s)
  4. Englishpoly-
  5. Proto-Indo-European*ten-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*tónos
  7. Proto-Hellenic*tónos
  8. Ancient Greekτόνος (tónos)
  9. Ancient Greekτονῐκός (tonĭkós)
  10. Englishtonic
  11. English todaypolytonic

From poly- + tonic.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.