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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, ˈpjæn oʊ /

noun

• pianos
  plural

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, ˈpjɑ nɔ /

adjective

1. soft; subdued.

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adverb

1. softly. p, p.

piano ¹ British  

/ ˈpjɑːnəʊ /

adjective

1.  p.  music (to be performed) softly

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piano ² 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 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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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• pianos
  plural

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

See Examples For:

piano Piano pianos

“The Governor’s Waltz” is a dreamy folk track about the stress of performance and desire for connection, with ghostly backing vocals and a piano that sounds like a series of tuned bells.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026

A highlight is a circa 1874 Haine Brothers solid rosewood square grand piano.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

In the lyrics, the singer professes his love for a girl called Celeste over a melancholy piano line, saying: "I hear her voice each time I take a breath".

From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026

The opening “Hit the Wall” begins with a gentle repeating synth pulse and spare piano chords, dropping us into the familiar world of Mr. Dessner’s productions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026

In this frantic atmosphere, the number of Leah’s piano students dwindled.

From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock

He also appeared in Jane Campion's 1993 period drama The Piano, which received the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival and went on to win three Oscars.

From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026

Pete’s Dueling Piano Bar – One night, about 100 women from the Women in Auto Care conference I was attending descended on this place with zero warning — and the staff didn’t miss a beat.

From Salon ● Mar. 31, 2026

Equally peculiar was a performance of Schumann’s Piano Concerto that served as transition from “Humboldt” to “Egmont.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 19, 2026

In a conversation with several journalists, including AFP, Huppert drew a parallel with Jelinek's work for the "The Blood Countess" and her novel "The Piano Teacher".

From Barron's ● Feb. 18, 2026

He then tapped his foot, like he was accelerating in a car, and said: "Piano."

From "Counting by 7s" by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Soon after, he began an apprenticeship in London with the composer Muzio Clementi that lasted 10 years and required that Field demonstrate pianos for his teacher’s side business as an instrument maker and retailer.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026

An exhibition at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum presents more than 70 vivid images of American manufacturing, capturing the making of jet engines, pencils, pianos and more.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 25, 2026

One got in touch to invite Jimmy to see one of Sinatra's old pianos.

From BBC ● Apr. 17, 2026

When he played the piano, he shared how he had lost two much-loved pianos when his house burnt down in the LA fires earlier this year.

From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2025

It took a German organ builder and friend of J. S. Bach, Gottfried Silbermann, to see the piano’s potential and - with help and advice from Bach - to begin manufacturing pianos.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

Related Words

• grand piano
• instrument
• keyboard