Tonic

How to spell tonic

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce tonic

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does tonic mean?

1. nounSomething that restores energy, health, or a sense of wellbeing.
2. nounA carbonated soft drink flavoured with quinine, often mixed with spirits.
3. nounThe first note of a musical scale, serving as the home key.
4. adjectiveProducing or restoring physical or mental vigour.

Tonic in a sentence

• noun

  The quiet weekend was a real tonic after a stressful month at work.

• noun

  He ordered a gin and tonic with a slice of lime.

• noun

  The melody resolves comfortably back onto the tonic at the end.

• adjective

  The spa treatment was said to have a tonic effect on the skin.

• noun

  Her grandmother swore by a bitter herbal tonic every spring.

• noun

  The bar had run out of tonic so the cocktails tasted flat.

Where does tonic come from?

Language of origin: Greek

The word descends from the Greek tonikos, meaning 'relating to tension or stretching', which was built on tonos, literally 'a stretching' and by extension the tension of a string or the pitch of a sound. That sense of tightening passed into medicine, where 'tonic' came to describe anything that braces or restores tone to the body's tissues, entering English through the Latinised form in the seventeenth century. From the medical idea of a strengthening preparation grew the familiar bottled tonic water and the figurative use for anything refreshing. The same tonos root also gave English 'tone', 'intonation', and the musical 'tonic', the keynote that anchors a scale. The straightforward spelling rarely traps writers, since it follows the common -ic adjective pattern.

How the word is built

• ton- (from Greek tonos: tension, tone)
• -ic (adjective/noun suffix)