Toned

How to spell toned

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce toned

What does toned mean?

1. adjectiveHaving firm, well-defined muscles as a result of exercise.
2. verbPast tense of 'tone': gave something a particular shade, quality, or firmness.

Toned in a sentence

• adjective

  After a year of regular training her arms looked remarkably toned.

• verb

  The photographer toned the prints a warm sepia for the exhibition.

• adjective

  The trainer designed a routine to keep his clients lean and toned.

• verb

  She toned down her email after reading it again the next morning.

Where does toned come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This is the past form of the verb 'tone', which traces back through Latin tonus to the Greek tonos, meaning literally 'a stretching' or 'tension', and by extension the pitch of a musical string or the voice. The idea of tension carried naturally into two modern senses: a 'tone' of sound or colour, and the firm tension of healthy muscle, so a 'toned' body is one whose muscles are taut rather than slack. English took 'tone' as a noun in the 1300s and only later pressed it into service as a verb, adding the regular '-d' ending to form 'toned'. The fitness meaning, describing well-defined muscles, became common in the twentieth century as exercise culture grew. Because the root simply adds '-d' to 'tone', the spelling keeps the silent final 'e' of the base hidden inside it, which is the small trap: it is 'toned', not 'tonned'.

How the word is built

• tone (from Greek tonos: pitch, tension)
• -d (past-tense/participle ending)