pizzicato

American  

[pit-si-kah-toh, peet-tsee-kah-taw] / ˌpɪt sɪˈkɑ toʊ, ˌpit tsiˈkɑ tɔ /

adjective

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

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noun

• pizzicati
  plural

1. a note or passage so played.

pizzicato British  

/ ˌpɪtsɪˈkɑːtəʊ /

adjective

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

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noun

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

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• pizzicati
  plural

Etymology

Origin of pizzicato

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

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pizzicato pizzicati

“Sinners,” which Warner Bros. landed in a competitive bidding war, announced itself in a teaser that was simply blood and pizzicato strings.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 1, 2025

At his signal, the strings went off on a pizzicato run, buoyed by harps and congas, before dissolving into a bass drum pulse beneath simmering horns.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2023

The rhythm hops from key clicks on a bass clarinet to pizzicato strings; it’s juxtaposed with sighing melody lines and hints of a circus band, making the most of its three-and-a-half minutes.

From New York Times ● Mar. 3, 2023

Violas slinked atop pizzicato bass punctuation as Noseda whipped up a whirlwind of violins.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 6, 2022

"Welcome, stranger," he said, calling on the fiddles for a little pizzicato.

From Tinker's Dam by John Schoenherr

In the first movement, she lined up emphatic pizzicati with the accents that Aimard plucked out of the solo part.

From New York Times ● Nov. 3, 2023

Their phrases had their own music, but it harmonized with Montgomery’s score and its oscillating rhythms, accelerating pizzicati, scraps of Gershwinesque melody, folk song twang and insect drones.

From New York Times ● Jul. 11, 2021

The alluring array of sounds included woodblocklike pizzicati by Ms. Derham and, in the second movement’s “Nocturno,” hollowed-out timbres and glassy harmonics.

From New York Times ● Jul. 21, 2014

Oompah pizzicati and offbeat percussion accents add to the sense of humor.

From New York Times ● Jun. 7, 2013

She sat down with that false air in front of the piano, and then began the usual preliminaries,—the pizzicati of the violin and the arrangement of the scores.

From The Kreutzer Sonata and Other Stories by Benjamin R. Tucker