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tontillo

Spanish, noun/tonˈtiʝo/

tontillo is a Spanish masculine noun meaning “Clothes. Petticoat or other lower garment with whale hoops or other material that women used to hollow out the skirts” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a diminutive of tonto. The Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) defines it as “Faldellín con aros de ballena o de otra materia que usaron las mujeres para ahuecar las faldas”.

What does tontillo mean in English?

noun

  1. 1

    masculineClothes. Petticoat or other lower garment with whale hoops or other material that women used to hollow out the skirts.

  2. 2

    masculineWoven piece of bristle or rubberised cotton, which the tailors put in the folds of the jackets to hollow them out.

adjective

  1. 1

    diminutive of tonto

Source: English Wiktionary, Spanish section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How Spanish dictionaries define it

noun: 1. Faldellín con aros de ballena o de otra materia que usaron las mujeres para ahuecar las faldas. 2. Pieza tejida de cerda o de algodón engomado, que ponían los sastres en los pliegues de las casacas para ahuecarlas.

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.

Forms of tontillo

  • tontillos plural
  • tontilla feminine
  • tontillas feminine plural

Source: English Wiktionary and Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).

How do you pronounce tontillo?

  • /tonˈtiʝo/
  • [t̪õn̪ˈt̪i.ʝo]
  • [t̪õn̪ˈt̪iʝo]

Sources: English Wiktionary, Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.

English words that translate to tontillo

Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.

How common is tontillo in Spanish?

tontillo appears about once in every 54 million words in written Spanish.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).