ton

Pronunciation

• IPA: /tʌn/; fashion: UK /tɔ̃ː/, US /tõʊ/^[1]

ton¹ unit of weight

Etymology

The weight is a variant of tun, a cask, Middle English tonne, tunne;^[2][3][4][5] the two spellings were used for both the container and the measure until the senses were differentiated about 1688.^[2][4][6] The spelling ton is found from 1538 but became established only in the 18th century,^[2][4] perhaps helped by Old French tonne and Medieval Latin tonna in legal forms.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A unit of a ship's carrying capacity, originally the space taken up by a tun of wine: probably before 1300 in Barnhart, 1379 in the OED.^[2][7][5]

Semantic evolution

A measure for solid goods such as stone, lime or wheat is from 1428–29, and for timber, usually 40 cubic feet, from 1521.^[7] The strict sense of a measure of weight is first recorded in 1485,^[2][7] now 2,240 pounds (the long ton) in Britain and 2,000 pounds (the short ton) in the United States.^[8][9] The metric tonne of 1,000 kilograms appears in English in the late 19th century, from French.^[5] A very large amount, tons of, is colloquial from 1770,^[7] and tons as an adverb, tons better, from 1908.^[7] Tonnage was a tax on wine imported in tuns, from 1422.^[2]

Timeline

• 1379 – a ship's carrying capacity.^[7]
• 1428–29 – a measure of goods.^[7]
• 1485 – a measure of weight.^[2][7]
• 1538 – the spelling ton.^[2]
• c. 1688 – ton and tun distinguished.^[2][4]
• 1770 – a large amount.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A unit of weight equal to 2,240 pounds (the long ton) in Britain or 2,000 pounds (the short ton) in the United States.
2. A metric ton, 1,000 kilograms; a tonne.
3. A unit of a ship's cargo capacity or displacement.
4. (informal, often tons) A great amount.

Word family

• tonnage
• tonne
• megaton
• kiloton

ton² fashion

Etymology

The fashion is borrowed from French ton (“tone, style”), from Latin tonus (see tone),^{[3][4][10][11]} perhaps through the French phrase bon ton, “good style”, used in English from 1744.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The prevailing mode or fashion: 1769 in the OED and Etymonline, “a word used at present to express every thing that's fashionable”;^[7][4] MWU dates its first known use to 1756.^[10]

Semantic evolution

It also meant fashionable people as a group, the beau monde.^[11] It was used mainly in the 18th and 19th centuries.^[3][11]

Timeline

• 1744 – bon ton.^[4]
• 1769 – the fashion, the vogue.^[7][4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. (dated) The prevailing fashion; stylishness.
2. (dated) Fashionable society.

Related words

• bon ton
• tun
• tunnel
• tone

Usage notes

The OED records another ton (1693), the grub of the cockchafer.^[7] In Devon dialect a ton was a spinning wheel.^[12]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
10. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)