Piano
/piˈæn.oʊ/noun
A keyboard instrument whose strings are struck by felt-covered hammers, or a musical direction meaning softly.
Did you know?Piano is short for Italian pianoforte, meaning “soft-loud,” because its groundbreaking mechanism let players control volume through touch.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*pleh₂-
“To be flat, spread out, or level.”
Classical Latin
Latin
plānus
“Flat, level, even, or unobstructed.”
Medieval Latin
Latin
pianus
“A form associated with smoothness or gentleness, developing from plānus.”
13th–14th Century
Italian
piano
“Soft, quiet, gently, or gradually; also related to the sense of level or even.”
1709
Italian
gravicembalo col piano e forte
““Harpsichord with soft and loud,” Bartolomeo Cristofori’s description of the new hammer-action instrument.”
18th Century
English
piano
“A shortened form of pianoforte, adopted as the name of the instrument and its soft musical dynamic.”