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ton

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ton¹

  • /tʌn/
  • /tʊn/ Ireland, Northern England

Rhymes with -ʌn

Where it comes from

Variant of tun (“cask”), influenced by Old French tonne (“ton”).

noun tons

  1. The short ton of 2000 pounds (about 907 kg), 20 hundredweights of 100 pounds avoirdupois each.
  2. The long ton of 2240 pounds (about 1016 kg), 20 hundredweights of 112 pounds avoirdupois each.
  3. The metric ton of 1000 kilograms (about 2205 lb), 10 quintals of 100 kilograms each.

    Similar: tonne, metric ton, megagram

  4. The measurement ton of (US) 40 or (UK) 42 cubic feet (about 1.1 or 1.2 m³).
  5. The register ton of 100 cubic feet (about 2.83 m³).
  6. figuratively Any large, excessive, or overwhelming amount of anything. I’ve got a ton of work to do.

    Similar: shitton, fuckton, abundance, battalion, arseload, assload, bellyload, boatload, brimful, busload, bucketful, bucketload

  7. A unit of thermal power equal to 12,000 BTU/h (about 3.5 kW), approximating the idealized rate of cooling provided by uniform isothermal melting of 1 short ton of ice per day at 0°C. Their main problem is that they somehow believe that a 12-ton unit can handle this entire building.

    Similar: ton of refrigeration, refrigeration ton, TR, RT

  8. UK, colloquial 100 pounds sterling.
  9. UK, colloquial, usually 100 points.

    Similar: tonne

  10. UK, colloquial 100 runs.

    Similar: century

  11. UK, colloquial A speed of 100 mph (160 km/h). Speed along the lane / Do a ton or a ton and twenty-five

ton²

  • /tɔ̃/ UK
  • /tɒn/ UK

Where it comes from

Borrowed from French ton (“manner”), from Latin tonus. Doublet of tone, tune, and tonus.

noun

  1. uncountable Fashion, the current style, the vogue. A clergyman cannot be high in state or fashion. He must not head mobs, or set the ton in dress.
  2. uncountable Fashionable society; those in style. [S]he thought herself incapable of being flattered by the attentions of a man she despised, because he was the reigning idol of the ton […].

ton³

noun tons

  1. Synonym of tunny, particularly the common tunny or horse mackerel.

    Similar: tunny, particularly the common tunny or horse mackerel

TON⁴

noun

  1. abbreviation, initialism Initialism of threshold odor number

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: short ton, long ton, gross ton, net ton, tonne, weight, kilo, gauge, odp, tonnage, toon, bunch, package, pile, anvil, bag

Translations

Every language

noun various units of mass notionally equivalent to a tun

Españoltonelada
한국어톤 ton
日本語トン ton
中文噸 /吨 dūn, dùn, 公噸 /公吨 gōngdūn, gōngdùn
हिन्दीटन ṭan
Kiswahilitani
Portuguêstonelada
Françaistonne
DeutschTonne
Italianotonnellata
Ελληνικάτόνος tónos
Românătonă
Русскийто́нна tónna
Tiếng Việttấn
العربيةطُن ṭun
עבריתטוֹן ton, טוֹנָה tóna

noun any hyperbolically or oppressively large amount

Española base de bien, a cholón, a cascoporro, a porrillo, a espuertas, a mansalva
Françaistonne, flopée
Русскийкуча kuča

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Cite this
MLA

"ton." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/ton. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

ton. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/ton

Chicago

"ton." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/ton.

BibTeX
@misc{ton_2026,
  title = {ton},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/ton},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}