tonal

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

tone +‎ -al

Adjective

tonal (comparative more tonal, superlative most tonal)

  1. Of or relating to tones or tonality.
  2. (music) Employing tones that have a predictable relationship to some tonic.
  3. (linguistics) Employing differences in pitch (tones) to distinguish differences in the meaning of otherwise similar words (words which would otherwise be homophonic).
Antonyms
Translations

Etymology 2

From Nahuatl tōnalli (“day, day sign”)

Alternative forms

Noun

tonal (plural tonals)

  1. (in Mesoamerican mythology) An animal companion which accompanies a person from birth to death.
    • 1989, Robert Bartley Taylor, Indians of Middle America: an introduction to the ethnology of Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, page 122:
      When a tonal suffers misfortune or death, the same thing happens to the person associated with it.
See also

Anagrams

French

Etymology

ton +‎ -al

Adjective

tonal (feminine singular tonale, masculine plural tonaux, feminine plural tonales)

  1. tonal

Spanish

Adjective

tonal (plural tonales)

  1. tonal
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