piano

¹

[pee-an-oh, pyan-oh]

noun

plural

pianos 

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

piano

²

[pee-ah-noh, pyah-naw]

adjective

1. soft; subdued.

adverb

1. softly. p, p.

piano

¹

/ ˈpjɑːnəʊ /

adjective

1. p. music (to be performed) softly

Piano

²

/ 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)

piano

³

/ 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

piano

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.

Word History and Origins

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of piano¹

C17: from Italian, from Latin plānus flat; see _plain ¹

Origin of piano²

C19: short for _pianoforte

Example Sentences

Something I really love, especially about the piano and “Tonight, Tonight” as the opening track, is this feeling of hope that it starts off with, or maybe that’s just what I got from it.

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Her father had toured the world, performing on cruise ships as well as giving piano recitals at country hotels, but like many others switched careers to help with the war effort after 1939.

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Stripped back for the most part to just voice and piano, it’s an earnest work of introspection from a guy who knows how to make tenderness feel like strength.

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Yorke glides across the stage, doing that dance he does, moving from acoustic guitar to electric piano and back again.

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Every day, his mother — who cleaned houses and taught piano and guitar — packed him a peanut-butter sandwich on whole-wheat bread for lunch, “which sucks when you’re a kid.”

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Related Words

• grand piano 
• instrument 
• keyboard