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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  

/ 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 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  

/ ˈpjɑːnəʊ /

adjective

1. p. music (to be performed) softly

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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

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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

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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

“We got to record piano on the same one Prince used for ‘Purple Rain,’ ” Zachary said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026

“Heavy Metal” mostly leaned minimal, with spare electronics and occasional percussion, and here Mr. Winter’s piano is thick with chords and repeating pulses.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026

But a baby grand piano which featured in the artwork for the Supersonic single, which was valued at between £100,000 and £150,000 failed to sell.

From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026

“I keep a piano because finally, finally, finally, I’m going to learn to play the piano.”

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 29, 2026

She came back to the piano and leaned her head down, lowering her voice.

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

The contrast between restrained facades and secretive decoration gets to the heart of the Genoese mentality, says Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano, who divides his time between his native Genoa and Paris.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026

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

In 1993, Jane Campion became the first woman to receive a Palme d'Or for "The Piano".

From Barron's ● May 22, 2026

Broad had a hand in a Renzo Piano building at LACMA, the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall and his own museum, by Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 14, 2026

Piano music sounded from the end of the hall.

From "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath

Crafty folks will often repurpose pianos for $100 to $500 or so.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026

But today’s meager market for pianos makes it especially hard to find new homes for them.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026

And it ends with Sabotage, where discordant pianos and jump-scare strings soundtrack her self-destruction.

From BBC ● May 2, 2026

I think people will be very bored with screen time in 20 years, so we will have moved back to fishing, reading books, gardening, playing real guitars and pianos, taking walks, and enjoying family cookouts.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 23, 2026

“But I guess he never had time to study. Where he lived, they chopped up pianos for firewood.”

From "The House of the Scorpion" by Nancy Farmer

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Related Words

• grand piano
• instrument
• keyboard

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