Tuned

How to spell tuned

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce tuned

What does tuned mean?

1. verbAdjusted something so that it works correctly or is set to the right pitch, frequency, or condition.
2. adjectiveIn a state of correct adjustment or fine working order.

Tuned in a sentence

• verb

  The mechanic tuned the engine until it ran smoothly.

• adjective

  A finely tuned piano fills the hall with warm sound.

• verb

  She tuned her guitar before the rehearsal began.

• adjective

  The racing team kept every car perfectly tuned for the season.

Where does tuned come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the past form of the verb 'tune', which traces back through Old French 'ton' to the Latin 'tonus', meaning 'a sound, a tone, or a stretching of pitch'. The Latin word was itself borrowed from the Greek 'tonos', literally 'a stretching' or 'tension', because a string's pitch depends on how tightly it is stretched. In English, 'tune' first appeared in the 1300s as a variant of 'tone', referring to a melody or a correct musical pitch, and the sense of adjusting an instrument so its notes are accurate followed naturally. From there it widened to mean adjusting any device to its best working state, as in tuning an engine or a radio receiver. The spelling stays regular: simply add 'd' to the silent-e ending of 'tune', so the only trap is remembering that single 'd' rather than 'ed'.

How the word is built

• tune (root, from Old French ton: a musical sound or pitch)
• -d (past tense / past participle suffix)