piano

1
[ pee-an-oh, pyan-oh ]
See synonyms for piano on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural pi·an·os.
  1. a musical instrument in which felt-covered hammers, operated from a keyboard, strike the metal strings.

Origin of piano

1
First recorded in 1795–1805; short for pianoforte

Words Nearby piano

Other definitions for piano (2 of 2)

piano2
[ pee-ah-noh; Italian pyah-naw ]

adjective
  1. soft; subdued.

adverb
  1. softly. Abbreviation: p, p.

Origin of piano

2
1675–85; <Italian: soft, low (of sounds), plain, flat <Latin plānusplain1

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use piano in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for piano (1 of 3)

piano1

/ (pɪˈænəʊ) /


nounplural -anos
  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

Origin of piano

1
C19: short for pianoforte

British Dictionary definitions for piano (2 of 3)

piano2

/ (ˈpjɑːnəʊ) /


adjective, adverb
  1. music (to be performed) softly: Symbol: p

Origin of piano

2
C17: from Italian, from Latin plānus flat; see plain 1

British Dictionary definitions for Piano (3 of 3)

Piano

/ (Italian 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)

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

Cultural 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.