arpeggio
/ɑɹˈpɛ.d͡ʒi.oʊ/ noun, verb
Forms arpeggios arpeggi arpeggioing arpeggioed
- noun (music) The notes of a chord played individually instead of simultaneously, usually moving from lowest to highest.
- verb (transitive) To play (a chord) as an arpeggio; to play (a piece of music) with arpeggios.
- verb (intransitive) To produce arpeggios; to produce sounds resembling arpeggios.
- verb (ambitransitive, figurative) To move (the hand or fingers) against a surface as if playing arpeggios on a keyboard; to touch different points in succession along a surface.
Synonyms
Etymology
Borrowed from Italian arpeggio, from arpeggiare (“to play a harp”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun The production of the tones of a chord in rapid succession, as in playing the harp, and not simultaneously; a strain thus played.
Etymology [It., fr. arpeggiare to play on the harp, fr. arpa harp.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “arpeggio”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details