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ditto

[dit-oh]
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noun, plural dit·tos.
  1. the aforesaid; the above; the same (used in accounts, lists, etc., to avoid repetition). Abbreviation: do. Symbol: ″.Compare ditto mark.
  2. another of the same.
  3. Informal. a duplicate; copy.
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adverb
  1. as already stated; likewise.
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verb (used with object), dit·toed, dit·to·ing.
  1. to make a copy of, using a Ditto machine.
  2. to duplicate or repeat the action or statement of (another person).
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Origin of ditto

1615–25; < Italian, variant of detto < Latin dictus said, past participle of dīcere to say; see dictum
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for ditto

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • In tabular work reversed commas are used as a sign for ditto.

    Punctuation

    Frederick W. Hamilton

  • The dash is sometimes used in catalogue work as a ditto mark.

    Punctuation

    Frederick W. Hamilton

  • Ditto,” cried Waller still more emphatically; “what say you, Hawkswing?

  • The fodder is odious, not fit for a pig, and the wine is ditto.

    The New Tenant

    E. Phillips Oppenheim

  • Cromwell was mad and a quack; Anselm, Becket, Goethe, ditto ditto.

    Past and Present

    Thomas Carlyle

British Dictionary definitions for ditto

ditto

noun plural -tos
  1. the aforementioned; the above; the same. Used in accounts, lists, etc, to avoid repetition and symbolized by two small marks (ˌ) known as ditto marks, placed under the thing repeatedAbbreviation: do
  2. informal
    1. a duplicate
    2. (as modifier)a ditto copy
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adverb
  1. in the same way
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sentence substitute
  1. informal used to avoid repeating or to confirm agreement with an immediately preceding sentence
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verb -tos, -toing or -toed
  1. (tr) to copy; repeat
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Word Origin

C17: from Italian (Tuscan dialect), variant of detto said, from dicere to say, from Latin
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for ditto

1620s, Tuscan dialectal ditto "(in) the said (month or year)," literary Italian detto, past participle of dire "to say," from Latin dicere (see diction).

Originally used in Italian to avoid repetition of month names in a series of dates; generalized meaning of "same as above" first recorded in English 1670s. Dittohead, self-description of followers of U.S. radio personality Rush Limbaugh, attested by 1995. dittoship is from 1869.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper