# ditto

Pronunciation: say "DIT-oh" US /ˈdɪtoʊ/, UK /ˈdɪtəʊ/

## Adverb

1. In the same manner as stated before; likewise.
   - Simple: In the same way as already said.
   - _The older models were discontinued, and ditto the spare parts that fit them._
   - _The pasta was cold when it finally arrived, and ditto the soup._

## Interjection

2. Used to express agreement with what someone has said, or to indicate that it applies equally to the person being addressed.
   - Simple: A way to say you agree with what another person said, or that it is true for you too.
   - _When she said she was exhausted after the trip, he sighed and answered, "Ditto."_
   - _I couldn't have put it better myself, so ditto on every word you wrote._

## Noun

3. That which was stated before; the same item already mentioned, taken as repeated.
   - Simple: The same thing already mentioned, used so you do not repeat it.
   - _In the old ledger, the clerk wrote the town name once and then ditto on every line below it._
   - _Rather than copy the same price on every row of the invoice, he wrote it once and put ditto underneath._
5. A mark written as two apostrophes or quotation marks (〃), showing that the item directly above is to be repeated.
   - Simple: A mark like two small quote marks that shows the word above should be written or said again.
   - _Rather than copy the price again, the clerk drew a ditto under each identical entry._
   - _A column of dittos ran down the page wherever the surname stayed the same._
6. A copy of a document made on a spirit duplicator (ditto machine), especially a classroom worksheet handed out to students. *(colloquial, US)*
   - Simple: A copy made on an old ditto machine, often a school worksheet.
   - _Our teacher handed out a math ditto every Friday, and the purple pages still smelled of the copier._
   - _The office archives held dittos of correspondence that predated the photocopier._

## Verb

4. To repeat what was said or done before.
   - Simple: To say or do the same thing again.
   - _When my coworker said the meeting ran too long, I just dittoed her and laughed._
   - _We ditto every point you just made._
7. To make a copy of something using a ditto machine. *(US)*
   - Simple: To make a copy using an old copying machine.
   - _Each teacher had to ditto her own materials back then._
   - _She dittoed the test and passed copies down each row._

## Other meanings

- (noun) A copy or imitation made to match an original.
- (noun) A suit of clothes whose pieces all share one color.

## Origin

Ditto appears in an English merchant's accounts dated 1450–51 and is recorded again from 1625 onward. English borrowed it from regional Italian ditto, a variant of detto, which is the past participle of dire, "to say." Dire comes from Latin dīcō, meaning "I say" or "I speak." The paper-copying meaning developed from the Ditto machine, a brand of spirit duplicator.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/ditto (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).