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timbre

UK/ˈtæmbɹə/US/ˈtæm.bɚ/
nounC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,591 of 15,258leans writtentechnical · an editor’s judgement

Other forms: timbres

Timbre is the particular colour of a voice or an instrument. Why a violin and a flute playing the same note sound completely different.

It is one of the four basic properties of sound, alongside pitch, loudness and duration, and it comes from the pattern of overtones each source produces. Musicians and sound engineers use it constantly. The word came from French and is pronounced roughly tam-bruh, which catches out everybody who has only read it. Everyday English says tone or tone colour for the same thing.

Definitions of timbre

  1. 1nountimbreThe distinctive quality of a sound, apart from pitch and volume.C1

    “You would know the timbre of that voice anywhere.”

Where it comes from

  1. Ancient Greek

    τύμπανον — drum

  2. French

    timbre

  3. English, today

    timbre

From French timbre, ultimately from Ancient Greek τύμπανον (“drum”). a doublet of tympanum and timpani and timbal and tymbal.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 10 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

timbre in the wild

  • Musicians distinguish instruments based on their varied timbres, even instruments playing notes at the same pitch and volume.

    Timbre

  • The physical characteristics that govern timbre include frequency spectrum and envelope.

    Timbre

  • Layering timbres allows a musician to play, for example, a pipe organ sound and a string ensemble sound together.

    Timbrality

  • Uses of the squillo include: projecting a small timbre e.g.

    Squillo

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.