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• piano
  piano

  noun

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

piano

¹ American  

[pee-an-oh, pyan-oh] / piˈæn oʊ, ˈpyæn oʊ /

noun

plural

pianos

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

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piano ² American  

[pee-ah-noh, pyah-naw] / piˈɑ noʊ, ˈpyɑ nɔ /

adjective

1. soft; subdued.

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adverb

1. softly. p, p.

piano ¹ British  

/ 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

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piano ² British  

/ ˈpjɑːnəʊ /

adjective

1.  p.  music (to be performed) softly

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Piano ³ British  

/ 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)

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piano Cultural  

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.

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Etymology

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

Explanation

A piano is a large musical instrument that you play by pressing black and white keys on a keyboard. Most people play a piano with their fingers, but Jerry Lee Lewis played with his fingers, feet, elbows, and, ahem, backside. A piano makes a sound when each key moves a small hammer that strikes a metal string. The inside of a piano looks kind of like a harp. Pianos are vital in many kinds of music, from classical to pop, and in the case of Lewis, boogie-woogie. Piano comes from the original Italian name for the instrument: piano e forte, "soft and loud." Piano is also the musical notation that tells the player that something should be played quietly.

Example Sentences

There really is something undeniably moving about the track’s three opening chords: their warmth, the unhurried tempo, the gentle tone of the Rhodes electric piano.

From Los Angeles Times • May 19, 2026

The song blends delicate piano with impressive vocal crescendos, which Goodrem -- a songwriter, musician, film star and a coach on The Voice Australia -- has brought to perfection.

From Barron's • May 15, 2026

He took piano lessons, learned to conduct an orchestra and listened to Mozart’s music.

From Los Angeles Times • May 15, 2026

The auction also sold a piano lesson with Simon May, who composed the EastEnders theme tune, for £700, and an Albert Square road sign, signed by the EastEnders cast, which went for £275.

From BBC • May 14, 2026

Then the piano music would start to play, and she’d clap to the beat for us as we would each skip, skip, skip, and leap across the imaginary puddle.

From "The Sea in Winter" by Christine Day

Related Words

• grand piano
• instrument
• keyboard