pizzicato

[ pit-si-kah-toh; Italian peet-tsee-kah-taw ]

/ ˌpɪt sɪˈkɑ toʊ; Italian ˌpit tsiˈkɑ tɔ /

Music.

adjective

played by plucking the strings with the finger instead of using the bow, as on a violin.

noun, plural piz·zi·ca·ti [pit-si-kah-tee; Italian peet-tsee-kah-tee] /ˌpɪt sɪˈkɑ ti; Italian ˌpit tsiˈkɑ ti/.

a note or passage so played.

Nearby words

pize, pizz., pizza, pizzazz, pizzeria, pizzicato, pizzle, pièce d'occasion, pièce de résistance, piña, piña cloth

Origin of pizzicato

1835–45; < Italian, past participle of pizzicare to pluck, pick, twang (a stringed instrument)

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for pizzicato

Con sordino and pizzicato passages occur as often for the cello as for the violin.
Music Notation and Terminology|Karl W. Gehrkens
Above the distant roll of the artillery, one gun stood out like a pizzicato note on a giant bass violin.
The Blower of Bubbles|Arthur Beverley Baxter
The pizzicato tuning of a violin is heard through the window.
Stars of the Opera|Mabel Wagnalls
He invented the tremolo and the pizzicato, and originated the vocal duet.
For Every Music Lover|Aubertine Woodward Moore

It was the music of piano and the pizzicato plucking of strings—there was no pompous organ note, no ore rotundo any more.
The Drunkard|Cyril Arthur Edward Ranger Gull

British Dictionary definitions for pizzicato

pizzicato

/ (ˌpɪtsɪˈkɑːtəʊ) music /

adjective, adverb

(in music for the violin family) to be plucked with the finger

noun

the style or technique of playing a normally bowed stringed instrument in this manner

Word Origin for pizzicato

C19: from Italian: pinched, from pizzicare to twist, twang

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