Jump To:

• Oto
  Oto

  noun

  a member of a Siouan-speaking tribe of North American Indians who formerly inhabited the lower Missouri River basin and now live in Oklahoma.
• oto-
  oto-

  a combining form meaning “ear,” used in the formation of compound words.

Oto

¹ American  

[oh-toh] / ˈoʊ toʊ /

Or Otoe

noun

• Otos,
  plural
• Oto
  plural

1. a member of a Siouan-speaking tribe of North American Indians who formerly inhabited the lower Missouri River basin and now live in Oklahoma.

---

oto- ² American  

1. a combining form meaning “ear,” used in the formation of compound words.

   otology.

---

oto- British  

combining form

1. indicating the ear

   otitis

   otolith

---

Usage

What does oto- mean? Oto- is a combining form used like a prefix meaning “ear.” It is often used in medical terms, especially in anatomy and pathology. Oto- comes from the Greek oûs, meaning “ear.” Related to the Greek oûs is English’s own word ear; so is the Latin word for ear, auris, which is the ultimate source of such words as aural. Learn more about oûs at our entry for otic, an adjective used in anatomy meaning “of or relating to the ear.”What are variants of oto-?When combined with words or word elements that begin with a vowel, oto- becomes ot-, as in otitis.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• Oto
  plural
• Otos
  plural

Etymology

Origin of oto-

< Greek ōto-, combining form of oûs ear ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Oto Otos

Fort Calhoun traces its roots to a meeting between explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and the Oto and Missouri tribes in August 1804 — 63 years before Nebraska became a state.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 20, 2023

The scenes in Tokyo before Oto passed away were shot before the lockdown.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 26, 2022

In addition, there are many narrative threads that emphasize the power of storytelling, from an idea Oto is creating for television, to multiple productions of "Uncle Vanya," to Misaki's tales about her late mother.

From Salon ● Nov. 23, 2021

Early in the novel, Oto’s beloved twin sister gets a new dress and allows Oto to try it on.

From New York Times ● Sep. 7, 2021

The survivors of this gens have joined the Pa-ça or Beaver gens of the Oto tribe.

From Siouan Sociology by Dorsey, James Owen

He and most of the 2,000 other Kaws, Pawnees, Otos and Osages present had come in first-class automobiles.

From Time Magazine Archive

Then after Leda to my vision came the wife of Aloeus, Iphimedeia, proud that she once had held the flowing sea and borne him sons, thunderers for a day, the world-renowned Otos and Ephialtes.

From "The Odyssey" by Homer

The land was given 260 by the Otos to whom it belonged, and the other tribes bore part of the expenses.

From Travels in the Interior of North America, Part I, (Being Chapters I-XV of the London Edition, 1843) Early Western Travels, 1748-1846, Volume XXII by Maximilian, Alexander Philipp

This list appears to have been collected chiefly by Mr. T. Say, from the Pani, and the Kansas, Otos, Missouris, Iowas, Omahas, and other southern branches of the great Dakota family.

From Sign Language Among North American Indians Compared With That Among Other Peoples And Deaf-Mutes First Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1879-1880, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1881, pages 263-552 by Mallery, Garrick

The Otos and the Oto agent treated them kindly.

From Boys' Book of Indian Warriors and Heroic Indian Women by Sabin, Edwin L. (Edwin Legrand)