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piano

1
[pee-an-oh, pyan-oh]
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noun, plural pi·an·os.

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

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RELATED WORDS

instrument, keyboard, player, clavier, pianoforte, clavichord, pianola, spinet

Nearby words

  1. pianism,
  2. pianissimo,
  3. pianist,
  4. pianistic,
  5. pianistics,
  6. piano accordion,
  7. piano bar,
  8. piano duet,
  9. piano hinge,
  10. piano nobile
Compare baby grand, concert grand, grand piano, spinet, square piano, upright piano.

Origin of piano

1
First recorded in 1795–1805; short for pianoforte

piano

2
[pee-ah-noh; Italian pyah-naw]Music.

adjective

soft; subdued.

adverb

softly. Abbreviation: p, p.

Origin of piano

2
1675–85; < Italian: soft, low (of sounds), plain, flat < Latin plānus plain1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for piano

British Dictionary definitions for piano

piano

1

noun plural -anos

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 vibrationsSee also grand piano, upright piano

Word Origin for piano

C19: short for pianoforte

adjective, adverb

music (to be performed) softlySymbol: p

Word Origin for piano

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

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)
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for piano

piano

n.

1803, from French piano (18c.), Italian piano, shortened forms of pianoforte (q.v.). As an adverb, "softly," in musical directions (superlative pianissimo), attested from 1680s. Piano wire attested from 1831.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Culture definitions for piano

piano

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

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.