étude
Americannoun
-
a musical composition, usually instrumental, intended mainly for the practice of some point of technique.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of étude
From French, dating back to 1830–40; see origin at study
Explanation
An etude is a short, tricky tune that a musician plays mainly for practice or to demonstrate skill. Many etudes are meant to be played on the piano. Well-known composers like Debussy and Chopin wrote piano etudes that continue to be used for teaching beginning musicians. There are also etudes composed for other instruments, like guitar, violin, and cello. In French, the word étude means "study," from the Latin studium, which also means "study," though it first meant "eagerness," from studere, "to be diligent."
Vocabulary lists containing etude
The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street
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English Words Derived from French, List 8
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Under a Painted Sky
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
So he returned to the stage and started the gentle undulations of the A-flat major étude he had played some 40 minutes earlier — now with even more flowing naturalness.
From New York Times ● Feb. 22, 2024
They even dared to parody South Korean girl group Blackpink for using a small part of a motif from Paganini's La Campanella étude in their song Shut Down.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2023
His dotes on his pit bull, Peaches, for whom he named a non-lyrical, piano-only étude on his album — the sort of track that might get cut if there was another artist to answer to.
From New York Times ● Oct. 15, 2021
Even the third étude, rippling like sun-dappled brook, was undermined by an overly frenetic bass.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 14, 2019
She bit her lips and played an étude by Fiorillo.
From The Goose Man by Porterfield, Allen Wilson
Eventually, he took a crack at writing some études himself.
From New York Times ● Nov. 16, 2023
For pretty, there are restless Satie-like piano études by Paul Shilton.
From New York Times ● Aug. 4, 2022
Mr. Floyd’s non-operatic works include song and choral cycles, a piano sonata and a book of études, as well as symphonic movements.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 3, 2021
Stevenson’s massive, craggy score, mostly written in 1961, includes wildly diverse pieces: strangely playful dances, brutal marches, brooding ruminations, frenzied fantasies, diabolical études, all building to a triple fugue.
From New York Times ● Sep. 30, 2021
Scriabine writes mazurkas, preludes, études, nocturnes and waltzes in his master's cool, polite, fastidious general manner.
From Musical Portraits Interpretations of Twenty Modern Composers by Rosenfeld, Paul
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
