tonicity
|to-ni-ci-ty|
🇺🇸
/toʊˈnɪsəti/
🇬🇧
/təˈnɪsɪti/
degree of 'tone' or 'tension'
Etymology
'tonicity' originates from Modern English, specifically formed from the adjective 'tonic' plus the suffix '-ity', where 'tonic' ultimately comes from Greek 'tonikos' and 'tonos' meant 'tension' or 'tone'.
'tonic' entered English via Latin and French (e.g. Latin 'tonus', Old French/Medieval French 'tonique') and later English productivity added the nominalizing suffix '-ity' to produce 'tonicity' in technical usage.
Initially related to the idea of 'tone' or 'tension' (musical or physical), the term evolved into specialized technical senses (e.g. osmotic properties, musical tonal function, prosodic stress patterns) now covered by 'tonicity'.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
the ability of a solution to affect the volume of a cell by causing water to move across a semipermeable membrane (i.e., relative osmotic pressure: hypertonic, hypotonic, isotonic).
The tonicity of the intravenous solution must match the patient's blood to avoid cell damage.
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Noun 2
in music theory, the degree to which a pitch, chord, or passage establishes or relates to the tonic (the central key or tonal center).
The tonicity of that passage makes the return to the tonic feel inevitable.
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Noun 3
in linguistics/phonetics, the prominence or placement of a tonic (stressed) syllable within a phrase or utterance; overall pattern of tonic stress.
Speakers vary the tonicity of a sentence to signal focus or contrast.
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Last updated: 2025/09/19 08:40