arpeggio

American  

[ahr-pej-ee-oh, -pej-oh] / ɑrˈpɛdʒ iˌoʊ, -ˈpɛdʒ oʊ /

noun

Music.

• arpeggios
  plural

1. the sounding of the notes of a chord in rapid succession instead of simultaneously.

2. a chord thus sounded.

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arpeggio British  

/ ɑːˈpɛdʒɪəʊ /

noun

1. a chord whose notes are played in rapid succession rather than simultaneously

2. an ascending and descending figuration used in practising the piano, voice, etc

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• arpeggiated
  adjective
• arpeggioed
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• arpeggios
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of arpeggio

1735–45; < Italian: literally, a harping, noun derivative of arpeggi ( are ) to play on the harp (< Germanic; compare Old English hearpi ( g ) an to harp)

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Explanation

An arpeggio is a series of increasing or decreasing notes played one after another, rather than all together as a chord. When musicians are first learning an instrument, they often practice arpeggios. String instruments commonly play arpeggios, especially violins and violas. You can also play an arpeggio on a banjo, bass guitar, or a keyboard instrument like a piano. It's also possible to sing an arpeggio, emphasizing each individual note. The word is Italian, from arpeggiare, "to play upon the harp," and ultimately from arpa, or "harp."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

arpeggio arpeggios

And with a sparkling arpeggio, we find ourselves suddenly in E-flat major, squinting in the sunlight.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

Legend: I have this song called “Safe,” and there’s this one moment when I do this run and Sufjan has this arpeggio going the opposite direction.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 16, 2024

Her voice sails over choppy piano chords as she announces her “big feelings,” and when she sings, “Yes, I have problems, problems,” she turns “problems” into a six-syllable arpeggio.

From New York Times ● May 10, 2024

DaBaby and Ricch’s “Rockstar,” Billboard’s official 2020 Song of Summer, was the most bewitching of the bunch, built out of a moody guitar arpeggio gentle enough for a country record.

From Slate ● May 1, 2021

They conduct the genome, thereby playing out its music—activating the viola at the fourteenth minute, a crash of cymbals during the arpeggio, a roll of drums at the crescendo.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

“Dancing on the Ceiling” does the opposite, starting with very verbose Art Tatum-style arpeggios in the verse but then mellowing out in the chorus, and quoting “All This and Heaven Too.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026

It’s synthpop swells and arpeggios feel like a pure-white LCD sunrise over a William Gibson landscape.

From Salon ● Nov. 7, 2025

When Berry implored the band to rock out again, the group switched gears and made 1994’s “Monster,” in which Buck ditches his arpeggios for power chords run through a distortion pedal.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2024

The strings’ opening melody in the Rachmaninoff had Romantic grandeur and beguiling translucence, blanketing but not muffling the piano’s arpeggios with gauzy tone.

From New York Times ● Apr. 14, 2024

The tune, somehow, is immediately wrenching, its measures plead in near arpeggios, and like any good folk song it makes the voice of its singer sound lost, or forlorn, incomplete.

From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee

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