This is the 11913th most frequent German word.
tonto
The word "tonto" is Spanish, not German, and it means "foolish" or "silly" in English.
Here, 'Tonto' is used as a noun, taken directly from the Spanish as a colloquial term for 'fool' or 'silly person'.
Peter ist kein Tonto, sondern sehr klug.
Peter is not a fool but very smart.
'Tonto' is employed as a borrowed term to describe a character archetype, commonly the court jester or joker.
In der Oper war der Tonto ein Charakter, der Humor in die Handlung brachte.
In the opera, the fool was a character who brought humor to the plot.
The word is discussed academically or descriptively, acknowledging its presence in multiple languages.