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pretonic

ton·ic
P p

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • UK Pronunciation
    • UK IPA
    • [ton-ik]
    • /ˈtɒn ɪk/
    • /prɪtˈɒnɪk/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [ton-ik]
    • /ˈtɒn ɪk/

Definitions of pretonic word

  • noun pretonic a medicine that invigorates or strengthens: a tonic of sulphur and molasses. 1
  • noun pretonic anything invigorating physically, mentally, or morally: His cheerful greeting was a real tonic. 1
  • noun pretonic quinine water. 1
  • noun pretonic Music. the first degree of the scale; the keynote. 1
  • noun pretonic Chiefly Eastern New England. soda pop. 1
  • noun pretonic Phonetics. a tonic syllable or accent. 1

Information block about the term

Origin of pretonic

First appearance:

before 1640
One of the 44% oldest English words
First recorded in 1640-50, tonic is from the Greek word tonikós pertaining to stretching or tones. See tone, -ic

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Pretonic

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation

pretonic popularity

A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 95% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.
Most Europeans know this English word. The frequency of it’s usage is somewhere between "mom" and "screwdriver".

pretonic usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

See also

Matching words

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