-ato
Spanish, suffix
-ato is spelled A-T-O (3 letters) and appears about once in every 1 million words in written Spanish, the 39,106th most frequent Spanish word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). -ato is a Spanish masculine suffix meaning “-ate (derivative of a salt or ester of an acid whose name ends in -ico)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). On this page, ato is a different word: “first-person singular present indicative of atar”. On this page, ató is a different word: “third-person singular preterite indicative of atar”. The Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) defines it as “Forma sustantivos de grupo o instituciones”.
What does -ato mean in English?
suffix
- 1
masculine-ate (derivative of a salt or ester of an acid whose name ends in -ico)
acetato (“acetate”)
suffix
- 1
masculinedenotes the office of a noun stem
cardenal (“(Catholic) cardinal”) + -ato → cardenalato (“cardinalate, office of the cardinal”)
- 2
masculinedenotes the action from a noun stem
estrella (“star”) + -ato → estrellato (“stardom”)
- 3
masculineforms an institution from a noun stem
huérfano (“orphan”) + -ato → orfanato (“orphanage”)
suffix
- 1
masculineforms diminutives
ballena (“whale”) + -ato → ballenato (“baby whale”)
verb
- 1
first-person singular present indicative of atar
verb
- 1
third-person singular preterite indicative of atar
Source: English Wiktionary, Spanish section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Spanish dictionaries define it
suffix: 1. Forma sustantivos de grupo o instituciones. 2. Forma un sustantivo de acción. 3. Forma sustantivos para las crías de animales. 4. Forma adjetivos que indican cualidad.
suffix: 1. Sal o ester derivados de un ácido.
The definition in the Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario), in Spanish.
Source: Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
English words that translate to -ato
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is -ato in Spanish?
-ato appears about once in every 1 million words in written Spanish.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).