diatonic
/ˌdaɪəˈtɑnɪk/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 2.22 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
4
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Relating to or characteristic of a musical scale which contains seven pitches and a pattern of five whole tones and two semitones; particularly, of the major or natural minor scales.
Etymology
From French diatonique or Late Latin diatonicus, ultimately from Ancient Greek διατονικός (diatonikós), in the phrase [γένος (génos, “type, genus”)] διατονικός (diatonikós) (in reference to the diatonic tetrachord, and in contrast to the chromatic and enharmonic tetrachords), from διάτονος (diátonos) (διά (diá) + τόνος (tónos)), of disputed etymology, as both components are ambiguous. Most plausibly, διάτονος (diátonos) refers to “stretched intervals”, as the intervals of the diatonic tetrachord are the most evenly distributed or “stretched out”, compared to the chromatic and enharmonic tetrads, which use smaller, more crowded together intervals. Compare pyknon, from πυκνός (puknós, “dense, compressed”), referring to the lower part of the non-diatonic tetrachords: the diatonic tetrachord has widely spaced notes (“stretched out”), while the other tetrachords have a closely spaced notes (“compressed”).
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
- Root: diatonique, diatonicus, διατονικός
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌdaɪəˈtɑnɪk/
- British English: /ˌdaɪəˈtɒnɪk/