tono-

prefix

Tonus: muscle tone, or tension in an organ.

“tonofibril, tonoplast”

OriginAncient Greek τόνος (tónos) ← Proto-Hellenic *tónos ← Proto-Indo-European *tónos →
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Meanings

prefix
  1. medicineTonus: muscle tone, or tension in an organ.

    tonography, myotonometer, hypotonia

  2. human sciencesRelating to tone in linguistics.

    tonogenesis, tonomorpheme, tonomorphology

  3. Acoustic pitch or musical tone.

    tonoscope, tonotopic, tonotopy

  4. Tension, tense, or stretched.

    tonofibril, tonoplast

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ten-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*tónos
  3. Proto-Hellenic*tónos
  4. Ancient Greekτόνος (tónos)
  5. Englishtono-

From Ancient Greek τόνος (tónos, “strain, tension, pitch”), from τείνω (teínō, “I stretch”).

More words from Ancient Greek

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

tono-. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tono-

MLA

“tono-.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tono-. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tono-,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tono-.

Source: tono- on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.