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ton

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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.

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)