dato

American  

[dah-toh, dah-taw] / ˈdɑ toʊ, ˈdɑ tɔ /

noun

• datos
  plural

1. datu.

2. the headman of a barrio or of a Malay tribe.

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dato British  

/ ˈdɑːtəʊ /

noun

1. the chief of any of certain Muslim tribes in the Philippine Islands

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• datos
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of dato

First recorded in 1610–20 as Datoe; partly from Malay datu, datto “ruler, chief,” and its variant datok, datuk “grandfather, elder,” partly from Indonesian datuk “head of the family, chieftain”; akin to datu ( def. )

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dato datos

If the captain would pay now, the dato said, the men would begin taking the pepper to the ship.

From "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham

Then the dato could urge his men to greater effort.

From "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham

At last the dato said he would have pepper for the Putnam tomorrow’.

From "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham

One morning when Nat went ashore, the dato spread his hands and sighed.

From "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham

“Ask the dato if he has heard of the mysterious rice that has been found on Lake Lanao, Ricardo,” said Lieutenant Lewis.

From The Adventures of Piang the Moro Jungle Boy A Book for Young and Old by Florence Partello Stuart

By treaty with the Moro datos, they secured the cession of the island of Balanbangan, off the north coast of Borneo.

From A History of the Philippines by David P. Barrows

The first chief of the village arrived and the datos received him with great and feigned demonstrations of joy, and consented in all things to what the governor proposed.

From The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century, Volume XLIII, 1670-1700 by Various

Kabunsuan is supposed to be descended from Mohammed through his Arab father, Ali, and so the datos of Maguindanao to the present day proudly believe that in their veins flows the blood of the Prophet.

From A History of the Philippines by David P. Barrows

Unless they are datos or chief men, there are but few of them who have two or three wives, which, unhappily, is more common among other heathen races.

From The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century, Volume XLIII, 1670-1700 by Various

The principal datos show their greatness by the use of enormous vases, where they keep rare and curious articles.

From The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century, Volume XLIII, 1670-1700 by Various

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