tonal

See also: tonął and tónál

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtoʊnəl/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtəʊnəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊnəl

Etymology 1

From tone +‎ -al.

Adjective

tonal (comparative more tonal, superlative most tonal)

1. Of or relating to tones or tonality.
   • 1929, Abraham Zevi Idelsohn, Jewish Music: Its Historical Development, page 358:

     Songs for the family-table on Sabbaths and holidays—songs which give those various holy days tonal expression and which aim to spiritualize the meals.

2. Of or relating to the general character, mood, or trend of something.
   • 2011 December 5, James Poniewozik, “Boardwalk Empire Watch: Mother, May I Sleep With Danger?”, in Time‎^[1], archived from the original on 27 December 2019:

     The lurid way the story played out felt like a tonal shift for Empire, but not necessarily a bad one—in the process of shedding its cool costume-drama attitude for grotesque family dysfunction, the episode felt for once less like a story about Prohibition and more one about a specific set of people.

3. (music) Employing tones that have a predictable relationship to some tonic.
4. (linguistics) Employing differences in pitch (tones) to distinguish differences in the meaning of otherwise similar words (words which would otherwise be homophonic).

Antonyms

• atonal

Derived terms

• antitonal
• equitonal
• microtonal
• monotonal
• neotonal
• nontonal
• pantonal
• polytonal
• pretonal
• semitonal
• subtonal
• tonal center
• tonalism
• tonalist
• tonal noise
• tritonal

Related terms

• tonality
• tonally

Translations

of or relating to tones or tonality

• Bulgarian: тонален (tonalen)
• Catalan: tonal
• Dutch: tonaal (nl)
• Finnish: tonaalinen (fi)
• French: tonal (fr)
• German: tonal (de)
• Irish: tonúil
• Italian: tonale (it)
• Portuguese: tonal (pt)
• Romanian: tonal (ro)
• Russian: тона́льный (ru) m (tonálʹnyj), то́новый (ru) m (tónovyj)
• Spanish: tonal

employing tones that have a predictable relationship to some tonic

• Finnish: tonaalinen (fi)
• German: tonal (de)
• Irish: tonúil
• Spanish: tonal

employing differences in pitch to distinguish differences in meaning

• Finnish: tonaalinen (fi)
• German: tonal (de)
• Irish: tonúil
• Italian: tonale (it)
• Romanian: tonal (ro)

Etymology 2

From Nahuatl tōnalli (“day, day sign”).

Alternative forms

• tona

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.

Related terms

• tonalli

See also

• nahual

Anagrams

• Alton, Laton, Talon, Tolan, Tolna, laton, notal, talon

Central Nahuatl

Alternative forms

• (Amecameca): tonatih
• (Milpa Alta): tonaltzintli

Etymology

From Classical Nahuatl tonatiuh.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /toːˈna.l/

Noun

tonal

1. (Tlaxcala) sun

French

Etymology

From ton +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Adjective

tonal (feminine tonale, masculine plural tonals or tonaux, feminine plural tonales)

1. tonal

Further reading

• “tonal”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

German

Etymology

Ton +‎ -al

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /toˈnaːl/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Adjective

tonal (strong nominative masculine singular tonaler, comparative tonaler, superlative am tonalsten)

1. tonal

Declension

Positive forms of tonal number & gender singular plural masculine feminine neuter predicative er ist tonal sie ist tonal es ist tonal sie sind tonal strong declension (without article) nominative tonaler tonale tonales tonale genitive tonalen tonaler tonalen tonaler dative tonalem tonaler tonalem tonalen accusative tonalen tonale tonales tonale weak declension (with definite article) nominative der tonale die tonale das tonale die tonalen genitive des tonalen der tonalen des tonalen der tonalen dative dem tonalen der tonalen dem tonalen den tonalen accusative den tonalen die tonale das tonale die tonalen mixed declension (with indefinite article) nominative ein tonaler eine tonale ein tonales (keine) tonalen genitive eines tonalen einer tonalen eines tonalen (keiner) tonalen dative einem tonalen einer tonalen einem tonalen (keinen) tonalen accusative einen tonalen eine tonale ein tonales (keine) tonalen Comparative forms of tonal number & gender singular plural masculine feminine neuter predicative er ist tonaler sie ist tonaler es ist tonaler sie sind tonaler strong declension (without article) nominative tonalerer tonalere tonaleres tonalere genitive tonaleren tonalerer tonaleren tonalerer dative tonalerem tonalerer tonalerem tonaleren accusative tonaleren tonalere tonaleres tonalere weak declension (with definite article) nominative der tonalere die tonalere das tonalere die tonaleren genitive des tonaleren der tonaleren des tonaleren der tonaleren dative dem tonaleren der tonaleren dem tonaleren den tonaleren accusative den tonaleren die tonalere das tonalere die tonaleren mixed declension (with indefinite article) nominative ein tonalerer eine tonalere ein tonaleres (keine) tonaleren genitive eines tonaleren einer tonaleren eines tonaleren (keiner) tonaleren dative einem tonaleren einer tonaleren einem tonaleren (keinen) tonaleren accusative einen tonaleren eine tonalere ein tonaleres (keine) tonaleren Superlative forms of tonal number & gender singular plural masculine feminine neuter predicative er ist am tonalsten sie ist am tonalsten es ist am tonalsten sie sind am tonalsten strong declension (without article) nominative tonalster tonalste tonalstes tonalste genitive tonalsten tonalster tonalsten tonalster dative tonalstem tonalster tonalstem tonalsten accusative tonalsten tonalste tonalstes tonalste weak declension (with definite article) nominative der tonalste die tonalste das tonalste die tonalsten genitive des tonalsten der tonalsten des tonalsten der tonalsten dative dem tonalsten der tonalsten dem tonalsten den tonalsten accusative den tonalsten die tonalste das tonalste die tonalsten mixed declension (with indefinite article) nominative ein tonalster eine tonalste ein tonalstes (keine) tonalsten genitive eines tonalsten einer tonalsten eines tonalsten (keiner) tonalsten dative einem tonalsten einer tonalsten einem tonalsten (keinen) tonalsten accusative einen tonalsten eine tonalste ein tonalstes (keine) tonalsten

Further reading

• “tonal”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[2] (in German)
• “tonal” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “tonal” in Duden online

Highland Puebla Nahuatl

Alternative forms

• to̱nal

Noun

tonal

1. sun

Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin tonus + Portuguese -al.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /toˈnaw/ [toˈnaʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /tuˈnal/ [tuˈnaɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /tuˈnal/ [tuˈnaɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /tuˈna.li/

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: to‧nal

Adjective

tonal m or f (plural tonais, not comparable)

1. tonal

Derived terms

• tonalmente

Further reading

• “tonal”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French tonal. By surface analysis, ton (tone) +‎ -al.

Adjective

tonal m or n (feminine singular tonală, masculine plural tonali, feminine/neuter plural tonale)

1. tonal

Declension

Declension of tonal

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	tonal		tonală	tonali	tonale
	definite	tonalul		tonala	tonalii	tonalele
genitive- dative	indefinite	tonal		tonale	tonali	tonale
	definite	tonalului		tonalei	tonalilor	tonalelor

Related terms

• atonal
• ton
• tonalitate

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /toˈnal/ [t̪oˈnal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: to‧nal

Adjective

tonal m or f (masculine and feminine plural tonales)

1. tonal

Derived terms

• altura tonal
• atonal
• bitonal
• rueda tonal
• sandhi tonal
• tonalidad
• tonalmente

Related terms

• tono

Further reading

• “tonal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025