tato

See also: Appendix:Variations of "tato"

Chamorro

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Numeral

tato

1. (Old Chamorro) three (in reference to living beings)

   Synonym: tres

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈtato]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ato
• Hyphenation: ta‧to

Pronoun

tato

1. inflection of tento:
   1. nominative feminine singular
   2. nominative/accusative neuter plural

Further reading

• “tato”, in Kartotéka Novočeského lexikálního archivu (in Czech)
• “tato”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2026

Fula

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Numeral

tato

1. (Pulaar dialect, with human nouns) three

   rewɓe tato ― three women

See also

• tati

Galician

Etymology

Onomatopoeic.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtato/ [ˈt̪a.t̪ʊ]
• Rhymes: -ato
• Hyphenation: ta‧to

Noun

tato m (plural tatos)

1. stutterer (one who stutters)

   Synonym: gago

Adjective

tato (feminine tata, masculine plural tatos, feminine plural tatas)

1. stuttering

   Synonym: gago

2. nasal (voice)

   Synonym: nasal

Derived terms

• tatexar
• tatexo

Further reading

• “tato”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2026
• “tato”, in Dicionário Estraviz de galego (in Galician), 2014–2026
• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “tato”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• “Tato” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006-2016.
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “tato”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “tato”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “tato”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Indonesian

Etymology

Borrowed from English tattoo, a borrowing from a Polynesian language, e.g. Samoan tatau (“tattoo; to tap, to strike”).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈtato/ [ˈt̪a.t̪o]
• Rhymes: -ato
• Syllabification: ta‧to

Noun

tato (plural tato-tato)

2. tattoo (an image made in the skin with ink and a needle; method of decorating the skin by inserting colored substances under the surface)

   Synonyms: cacah, kirung, rajah

Alternative forms

• tatu (Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore)

Derived terms

• bertato
• menato
• mentato
• penato
• penatoan
• tertato

Further reading

• “tato”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Italian

Etymology

Baby talk, related to tàta (“nanny”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈta.to/
• Rhymes: -ato
• Hyphenation: tà‧to

Noun

tato m (plural tati) (regional, childish)

1. form of address for an older male, especially:
   1. one's father, daddy, papa
   2. an older brother
   3. any man, especially if young, taking care of the child

References

• tato in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication
• “tato”, in Vocabolario Treccani on line (in Italian), Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 2026

Kwomtari

Noun

tato

1. bird

References

• Wietze Baron, Kwomtari Survey (1983)

Pali

Alternative forms

Alternative scripts

• 𑀢𑀢𑁄 (Brahmi script)
• ततो (Devanagari script)
• ততো (Bengali script)
• තතො (Sinhalese script)
• တတော or တတေႃ (Burmese script)
• ตโต or ตะโต (Thai script)
• ᨲᨲᩮᩣ (Tai Tham script)
• ຕໂຕ or ຕະໂຕ (Lao script)
• តតោ (Khmer script)
• 𑄖𑄖𑄮 (Chakma script)

Adjective

tato

1. masculine/neuter ablative singular of ta (“that”)

Pronoun

tato

1. masculine/neuter ablative singular of ta (“he, it, that”)

Paumarí

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

tato f

2. armadillo (burrowing mammal covered with bony, jointed, protective plates)

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈta.tɔ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -atɔ
• Syllabification: ta‧to

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *tatás

Proto-Balto-Slavic *tatas

Proto-Slavic *tata

Polish tata?

Polish tato

Possibly from the vocative singular of tata.

Noun

tato m pers (diminutive tatko or tatunio)

1. (endearing) dad

   Synonyms: tata, ojciec

   • 1822, Adam Mickiewicz, “Lilie. Ballada. (s Pieśni gminnéj).”, in Poezye, volume 1, page 92:

     Dzieci, woła: to ja to, ¶ To ja dzieci, wasz tato!

     «Children» — he calls — «it's me, it ¶ Is me, children, your dad!»

Declension

Declension of tato

	singular	plural
nominative	tato	tatowie
genitive	taty/tata	tatów
dative	tacie/tatowi	tatom
accusative	tatę/tata	tatów
instrumental	tatą/tatem	tatami
locative	tacie	tatach
vocative	tato	tatowie

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

tato

1. vocative singular of tata

Further reading

• Modern Standard Polish:
  • “tato”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[3] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • “tato”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[4] (in Polish)
  • Zygmunt Saloni, et al., editors (2020), “tato”, in Słownik gramatyczny języka polskiego [Grammatical Dictionary of Polish]‎^[5], 4. online edition, Warszawa
• Historic dictionaries:
  • J. Karłowicz, A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1919), “tato”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), volume 7, Warsaw, page 33
  • Witold Doroszewski, editor (1958–1969), “tato”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), Warszawa: PWN

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• tacto

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin tāctus, ~tūs (“a touching, touch, handling”), from tāctus (“touched”), perfect passive participle of tangō (“to touch”).

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈta.tu/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈta.tu/

• Rhymes: (Brazil, Portugal) -atu
• Hyphenation: ta‧to

Noun

tato m (plural tatos)

2. the sense of touch

Coordinate terms

senses: sentidosedit

• audição
• gosto, paladar
• olfato (Brazil, Portugal) ~ olfacto (Portugal only)
• tato (Brazil, Portugal) ~ tacto (Portugal only)
• visão

Related terms

• tanger
• tatear
• tátil

Further reading

• “tato”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “tato”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Romani

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *tep-

Proto-Indo-European *teptós

Proto-Indo-Iranian *taptás

Sanskrit त॒प्त (taptá)

Sauraseni Prakrit 𑀢𑀢𑁆𑀢 (tatta)

Romani tato

Inherited from Sauraseni Prakrit 𑀢𑀢𑁆𑀢 (tatta) + Middle Indo-Aryan -𑀓- (-ka-), from Sanskrit तप्त (tapta). Cognate with Kashmiri تۆت (tot).

Adjective

tato (feminine tati, plural tate)

1. warm

References

• Turner, Ralph Lilley (1969–1985), “taptá”, in A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages, London: Oxford University Press, page 323
• Boretzky, Norbert; Igla, Birgit (1994), “tató¹”, in Wörterbuch Romani-Deutsch-Englisch für den südosteuropäischen Raum : mit einer Grammatik der Dialektvarianten [Romani-German-English dictionary for the Southern European region] (in German), Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, →ISBN, page 277
• Yaron Matras ((Can we date this quote?)), “Other characteristic features of Proto-Romani”, in the Manchester Romani Project‎^[6], Manchester, archived from the original on 28 August 2021
• Yaron Matras (2002), “Historical and linguistic origins”, in Romani: A Linguistic Introduction‎^[7], Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 39
• Marcel Courthiade (2009), “tat/o, -i pl. -e”, in Melinda Rézműves, editor, Morri angluni rromane ćhibǎqi evroputni lavustik = Első rromani nyelvű európai szótáram : cigány, magyar, angol, francia, spanyol, német, ukrán, román, horvát, szlovák, görög [My First European-Romani Dictionary: Romani, Hungarian, English, French, Spanish, German, Ukrainian, Romanian, Croatian, Slovak, Greek] (overall work in Hungarian and English), Budapest: Fővárosi Onkormányzat Cigány Ház--Romano Kher, →ISBN, page 348

Spanish

Etymology

Contraction of está todo (bien), literally “everything's good”.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtato/ [ˈt̪a.t̪o]
• Rhymes: -ato
• Syllabification: ta‧to

Interjection

tato

1. (slang, Dominican Republic) alright, that is all, OKAY, that’s it

Noun

tato m (plural tatos, feminine tata, feminine plural tatas)

1. (colloquial) big brother

Further reading

• “tato”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

Tagalog

Alternative forms

• tatu

Etymology

Borrowed from English tattoo, from a Polynesian language.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /taˈtoʔ/ [t̪ɐˈt̪oʔ]
• Rhymes: -oʔ
• Syllabification: ta‧to

Noun

tatô (Baybayin spelling ᜆᜆᜓ)

1. tattoo

   Synonym: (Batangas) pika

Derived terms

• itato
• magpatato
• magtato
• patatuan
• tatuan

See also

• tatak

Further reading

• “tato”, in KWF Diksiyonaryo ng Wikang Filipino, Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, 2025
• “tato”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, 2018

Ternate

tato

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈta.to]
• Rhymes: -ato
• Hyphenation: ta‧to

Noun

tato

1. any of several fish among the triggerfish (Balistidae) and the filefish (Monacanthidae)

References

• Rika Hayami-Allen (2001), A descriptive study of the language of Ternate, the northern Moluccas, Indonesia, University of Pittsburgh

Welsh

Etymology

Clipping of pytato, from English potato.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈta.tɔ/
• Rhymes: -atɔ
• Hyphenation: ta‧to

Noun

tato f pl

1. (South Wales) plural of taten

   Synonym: tatws

Derived terms

• (cy-S) tato newi (“new potatoes”)

Mutation

Mutated forms of tato

radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
tato	dato	nhato	thato

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.