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harpsichord

UK/ˈhɑː(ɹ)p.sɪ.kɔː(ɹ)d/US/ˈhɑɹp.sɪˌkɔɹd/
nounC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #12,676 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: harpsichords

A harpsichord is an early keyboard whose strings are plucked, not struck. Play the harpsichord, a two-manual harpsichord, tune the harpsichord.

Because the strings are plucked, pressing harder changes nothing, so a player cannot make one note louder than another — which is exactly the limitation the piano was invented to remove. Bach and Scarlatti wrote for it, and it needs tuning constantly.

Gérard Janot · CC BY-SA 3.0

Definitions of harpsichord

  1. 1nounharpsichordAn early keyboard whose strings are plucked, not struck.C1

    “The concert of Baroque music was played on a harpsichord.”

harpsichord is an instrument.

Where it comes from

From Latin harpa, a harp, plus chorda, a string, through French.

  1. Italian

    arpicordo

  2. French

    harpechord — harp string

  3. English, today

    harpsichord

Built from

  • harpa · Latin — harp
  • chorda · Latin — string

Early 1600s, from French harpechord (“harp string”), from New Latin harpichordium, from harpa (“harp”) + chorda (“string”). Influenced by and possibly also borrowed from Italian arpicordo, producing variant spellings. The unetymological -s-, which predominates by the 1660s, is of unclear origin.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Music & Instruments

Practise this word

harpsichord in the wild

  • A harpsichord is a keyboard instrument that makes its sound by plucking a set of strings.

    Harpsichord

  • During the Baroque era, the harpsichord was a standard part of the continuo group.

    Harpsichord

  • In harpsichords, the plectra (traditionally made of crow quill) are attached to the jack mechanism.

    Plectrum

  • A spinet is a smaller type of harpsichord or other keyboard instrument, such as a piano or organ.

    Spinet

  • Sometimes it is mistakenly referred to as the harpsichord viola, which is a different instrument.

    Viola organista

1 / 2

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the chorda family

cord

harpsichord — used about once every 15,236 pages · #12,676 · point at the bar for the others