ditto
English
WOTD – 9 June 2007
Etymology
First attested in 1625. From regional Italian ditto, variant of detto, past participle of dire (“to say”), from Latin dīcō (“I say, I speak”). Not related to Italian dito (“finger”).
The specific meaning of making copies of paper comes from ditto machine, the brand name of a spirit duplicator.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈdɪtəʊ/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈdɪtoʊ/, [ˈdɪɾoʊ]
Audio (US) (file) Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -ɪtəʊ
Noun
ditto (plural dittos or dittoes)
- That which was stated before, the aforesaid, the above, the same, likewise.
- 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Romance and Reality. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], OCLC 24531354, page 127:
- [...] they entered a dismal-looking parlour, whose brick-red walls and ditto curtains were scantily lighted by a single lamp, though it was of the last new patent— […]
- 1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “Comprising a Brief Description of the Company at the Peacock Assembled; and a Tale Told by a Bagman”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, OCLC 28228280, page 134:
- […] a spacious table in the centre, and a variety of smaller dittos in the corners: […]
- 1967, Star Trek, The Alternative Factor, season 1, episode 27:
- Well say he's got the constitution of a dinosaur, recuperative powers ditto. And as we both know, I'm a bright young medic with a miraculous touch. Well why then, when I returned, there wasn't a trace of that wound on his forehead. Not even a bruise. It was like he had never been injured.
- 2008 May 22, “New 'Indiana' film whips up plenty of thrills”, in Hudson (MA) MetroWest Daily News:
- The opening shot of "Crystal Skull" shows the playful side of director Steven Spielberg, who seems to have a weak spot for cute animals. See "AI Artificial Intelligence" for Exhibit A. Ditto for executive producer George Lucas. See "Return of the Jedi" for Exhibit B.
- 2009 July 3, “Andy Murray: easy to admire, but can we learn to love him?”, in Times Online:
- He has created for himself a honed, primed-for-victory body and is working hard on a ditto mind.
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- (US, informal) A duplicate or copy of a document, particularly one created by a spirit duplicator.
- Please run off twenty-four dittos of this assignment, for my students.
- (by extension) A copy; an imitation.
- 1991, N. Romano-Benner, “Convoking the muses of Cuenca”, in Americas, volume 43, number 1, page 6:
- "You've got to look good to feel good," she announces, a ditto of television slogans.
- 2003, “Argenta appears unfazed”, in Herald & Review:
- Last year, Argenta-Oreana blanked the Chiefs 23-0 in a second-round game Dee-Mack coach Jim McDonald said was "pretty much a ditto" of what transpired Saturday.
- 2009, “Brunswick school hopes to be model for uniforms”, in Myrtle Beach Sun News:
- The intent of the policy, she said, is "not to put everybody in a ditto environment," where all are expected to look and act exactly like all others.
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- The ditto mark, 〃; a symbol, represented by two apostrophes, inverted commas, or quotation marks (" "), indicating that the item preceding is to be repeated.
- Synonyms: (abbreviation, dated) do., (abbreviation, rare) do
- (historical, in the plural) A suit of clothes of the same colour throughout.
Derived terms
- ditto suit
- suit of dittoes
Translations
the aforesaid
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informal: duplicate
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ditto mark
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Adverb
ditto (not comparable)
- As said before, likewise.
- 2004 January 15, “Smash and grab”, in The Economist:
- The inflationary effect of injecting $1 billion into the economy could be dire; ditto the impact on the tumbling bolivar of treating foreign reserves as if they were the government's piggy-bank.
- March 11 2022, David Hytner, “Chelsea are in crisis but there is no will to leave club on their knees”, in The Guardian:
- Some of the players were concerned about what the future held for them – given that one of the measures involved Chelsea not being able to operate in the transfer market or offer new contracts. Ditto many members of staff.
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Translations
likewise — see likewise
Verb
ditto (third-person singular simple present dittos, present participle dittoing, simple past and past participle dittoed)
- (transitive) To repeat the aforesaid, the earlier action etc.
- Synonyms: ape, echo
- 1989, K. K. N. Kurup, Agrarian struggles in Kerala
- The Communists believed that Prakasam, the Prime Minister, never tried to check the bureaucracy but dittoed every action of the corrupt officials and police.
- (US) To make a copy using a ditto machine.
- 1966, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 3, in The Crying of Lot 49, New York: Bantam Books, published 1976, →ISBN, page 55:
- But they were all purple, Dittoed—worn, torn, stained with coffee.
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Translations
(transitive) To repeat the aforesaid, the earlier action etc
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Interjection
ditto
- Used as an expression of agreement with what another person has said, or to indicate that what they have said equally applies to the person being addressed.
- I'm really busy today! —Ditto!
- 1871 December 27 (indicated as 1872), Lewis Carroll [pseudonym; Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], “Tweedledum and Tweedledee”, in Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, London: Macmillan and Co., OCLC 1079211351, page 82:
- "Besides, if I'm only a sort of thing in his dream, what are you, I should like to know?" "Ditto," said Tweedledum. "Ditto, ditto!" cried Tweedledee.
Norwegian Nynorsk
Etymology
From older Italian ditto. Doublet of diktum.
Adverb
ditto
- ditto
Interjection
ditto
- ditto
Portuguese
Noun
ditto m (plural dittos)
- Obsolete spelling of dito
Adjective
ditto (feminine ditta, masculine plural dittos, feminine plural dittas)
- Obsolete spelling of dito
Verb
ditto
- Obsolete spelling of dito