gamut
/ˈɡæm.ət/ noun
Forms gamuts
- noun A (normally) complete range.
- noun (music) All the notes in a musical scale.
- noun All the colours that can be presented by a device such as a monitor or printer.
Etymology
1520s, original sense “lowest note of musical scale”, contraction of Medieval Latin gamma ut, from gamma (“Greek letter, corresponding to the musical note G”) + ut (“first solfège syllable, now replaced by do”). In modern terms, “G do” – the first note of the G scale. Meaning later extended to mean all the notes of a scale, and then more generally any complete range.
Webster’s 1913
- noun The scale.
Etymology [F. gamme + ut the name of a musical note. F. gamme is fr. the name of the Greek letter Gamma, and Ut.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “gamut”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details