Word.ws English Dictionary

tanto

/ˈtɑntoʊ//ˈtɑntoʊ/

tanto noun: a traditional Japanese small sword or knife; often used as a secondary weapon to a katana.

Noun

tanto (plural tanto or tantos)

  1. A traditional Japanese small sword or knife; often used as a secondary weapon to a katana.
    Synonyms:
    tanto knife

Adverb

tanto (not comparable)

  1. So much; too much.

Synonyms of tanto

Forms of tanto

pluraltanto
pluraltantos
alternative formtantō
alternative formtantou

Plural of tanto: tanto or tantos

Origin of tanto

Borrowed from Japanese 短刀 (tantō), from Middle Chinese 短刀 (twan^X taw, “dagger”).

Borrowed from Italian tanto.

Words formed from tanto

  • allegro non tanto
  • non tanto

Phrases with tanto

Words that rhyme with tanto

Questions about tanto

What does tanto mean?
Tanto means a traditional Japanese small sword or knife; often used as a secondary weapon to a katana.
What part of speech is tanto?
Tanto can be a noun or an adverb.
How do you pronounce tanto?
Tanto is pronounced /ˈtɑntoʊ/.
What is the plural of tanto?
The plural of tanto is tanto.

Words near tanto in the dictionary

  1. tantivy
  2. tantivying
  3. tantième
  4. tantièmes
  5. Tantlinger
  6. tanto
  7. tanto knife
  8. tanto knives
  9. Tanton
  10. Tantonan
  11. tantonies

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tanto (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

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