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  • 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

"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

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

Etymology

Origin of oto-

< Greek ōto-, combining form of oûs ear 1

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

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

But then Kafuku returns home early one day and spies something that radically reshapes what he understood about Oto and their marriage — or does it merely confirm what he already suspected?

From Los Angeles Times Nov. 29, 2021

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

Oto dugout canoe, from Kurz's Sketchbook, May 15, 1851 b.

From Villages of the Algonquian, Siouan, and Caddoan Tribes West of the Mississippi by Bushnell, David Ives

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

Their language differs from that of the Otos, Missouris, and Joways; 275 there is, however, an affinity between them.

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

They stayed ten days, to rest; then the Otos gave them each a pony, and in two more weeks they were home.

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

By a general agreement the Otos, Joway, Fox, and Saukie Indians hunt this country in common.

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

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