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• piano
  piano

  noun

  a musical instrument in which felt-covered hammers, operated from a keyboard, strike the metal strings.
• Piano
  Piano

  noun

  Renzo. born 1937, Italian architect; buildings include the Pompidou Centre, Paris (1977; with Richard Rogers), the Potsdamer Platz redevelopment, Berlin (1998), and The Shard, London (2012)

piano

¹ American  

[pee-an-oh, pyan-oh] / piˈæn oʊ, ˈpjæn oʊ /

noun

• pianos
  plural

1. a musical instrument in which felt-covered hammers, operated from a keyboard, strike the metal strings.

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piano ² American  

[pee-ah-noh, pyah-naw] / piˈɑ noʊ, ˈpjɑ nɔ /

adjective

1. soft; subdued.

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adverb

1. softly. p, p.

piano ¹ British  

/ pɪˈænəʊ /

noun

1. a musical stringed instrument resembling a harp set in a vertical or horizontal frame, played by depressing keys that cause hammers to strike the strings and produce audible vibrations See also grand piano upright piano

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Piano ² British  

/ pjˈɑno /

noun

1. Renzo. born 1937, Italian architect; buildings include the Pompidou Centre, Paris (1977; with Richard Rogers), the Potsdamer Platz redevelopment, Berlin (1998), and The Shard, London (2012)

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piano ³ British  

/ ˈpjɑːnəʊ /

adjective

1.  p.  music (to be performed) softly

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piano Cultural  

1. A musical direction meaning “to be performed softly”; the opposite of forte. As the name of a musical instrument, it is short for pianoforte.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• pianos
  plural

Etymology

Origin of piano¹

First recorded in 1795–1805; short for pianoforte

Origin of piano²

1675–85; < Italian: soft, low (of sounds), plain, flat < Latin plānus plain ¹

Explanation

A piano is a large musical instrument that you play by pressing black and white keys on a keyboard. Most people play a piano with their fingers, but Jerry Lee Lewis played with his fingers, feet, elbows, and, ahem, backside. A piano makes a sound when each key moves a small hammer that strikes a metal string. The inside of a piano looks kind of like a harp. Pianos are vital in many kinds of music, from classical to pop, and in the case of Lewis, boogie-woogie. Piano comes from the original Italian name for the instrument: piano e forte, "soft and loud." Piano is also the musical notation that tells the player that something should be played quietly.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

piano Piano pianos

A coyote is bathed in red light; a cougar stalks near a grand piano; a man stands in a tropical jungle surrounded by mist; a pay phone off the hook dangles by its cord.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

Instead, she just fits it in when she can between piano and violin lessons.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

Languid piano tunes give way to surging, keening tides of strings.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026

In the lyrics, the singer professes his love for a girl called Celeste over a melancholy piano line, saying: "I hear her voice each time I take a breath".

From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026

The cover of “Spirit Rappings” sheet music, printed music sold often for home use, typically to be played on a piano.

From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock

Broad had a hand in a Renzo Piano building at LACMA, the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall and his own museum, by Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 14, 2026

Pete’s Dueling Piano Bar – One night, about 100 women from the Women in Auto Care conference I was attending descended on this place with zero warning — and the staff didn’t miss a beat.

From Salon ● Mar. 31, 2026

Odeleye won Wandsworth Musician of the Year in 2022, and later auditioned for The Piano at Liverpool Street Station.

From BBC ● Mar. 7, 2026

In a conversation with several journalists, including AFP, Huppert drew a parallel with Jelinek's work for the "The Blood Countess" and her novel "The Piano Teacher".

From Barron's ● Feb. 18, 2026

After a few bars of Piano Concerto no.

From "The Lightning Thief" by Rick Riordan

How seriously to take the historical existence of cat pianos, according to the authors, is an open question.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

The pianos are always muted, the drums all sound like they're being played next door, and the orchestra is buried deep in the mix to foreground Abrams' voice.

From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026

An exhibition at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum presents more than 70 vivid images of American manufacturing, capturing the making of jet engines, pencils, pianos and more.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 25, 2026

One got in touch to invite Jimmy to see one of Sinatra's old pianos.

From BBC ● Apr. 17, 2026

Journalists told stories, often wildly embroidered, of Osage who discarded grand pianos on their lawns or replaced old cars with new ones after getting a flat tire.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann

Related Words

• grand piano
• instrument
• keyboard