piano
/piˈænoʊ/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.31 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
3
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A percussive keyboard musical instrument, usually ranging over seven octaves, with white and black colored keys, played by pressing these keys, causing hammers to strike strings.
verb
To play the piano.
verb
To equip with a piano.
adv
Softly, as a dynamic in a piece of music.
Example Sentences
- "The piano in his house takes up a lot of space."
- "She has been taking lessons for many years and now plays piano very well."
- "Bukharin's examples illustrate the level of his reasoning, as when he tells us that the dependence of art on social conditions is proved by the fact that no one can play the piano if there are no pianos."
- "Anyhow I pianoed to my own ear, and had no thought at that time for an audience."
- "Who comforted me with Madeleines and lime tea, with whipped cream in my cocoa in far off Ann Arbor while others selfishly fiddled, bassooned, pianoed only for their own ugly self-advancement!"
- "John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch, Arnold Weinstein, and others came to the house, taping their poems as I pianoed and zithered and drummed away."
Etymology
Clipping of pianoforte, from Italian pianoforte, from piano (“soft”) + forte (“strong”). So named because it could produce a wide range of varied volumes note-by-note, in contrast to older keyboard instruments, notably the harpsichord. Doublet of llano, plain, plane, and plan.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *pleh₂-, pianoforte
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /piˈænoʊ/
- British English: /ˈpjænəʊ/
Inflected Forms
pianos (plural)
pianoes (archaic, plural)
pianos (present, singular)
pianoing (participle, present)
pianoed (participle, past)
pianoed (past)
more piano (comparative)
most piano (superlative)