The Piano Is Named After Loud and Soft
A pianist plays the piano. The instrument's full name means soft-loud, because that is what it could do and the harpsichord could not.
A pianist plays the piano. The instrument's full name is *pianoforte*, Italian for soft-loud, and it was a selling point: unlike the harpsichord, which plucked its strings at a fixed volume, the new instrument struck them with hammers, so pressing harder made a louder note. English shortened the name and kept the mechanism.
- Someone who plays the piano. *A concert pianist.*
- Pianist in compounds. *A jazz pianist.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | pianist | A young pianist. |
| Plural | pianists | Two pianists. |
| Instrument | piano | An upright piano. |
| Full name | pianoforte | The pianoforte. |
| Dynamic | piano / forte | Play it piano. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The pianist played without a score.From memory.
- She accompanied the choir on the piano.Accompanist is the specific role.
- The passage is marked piano.Meaning play it softly.
Piano vocabulary
- Grand — horizontal strings, from baby grand to concert grand
- Upright — vertical strings, for smaller rooms
- Action — the mechanism linking key to hammer
- Sustain pedal — lifts the dampers so notes ring on
- Eighty-eight keys — the standard range since the late 1800s
From Italian *pianista*, from *piano*, soft. Bartolomeo Cristofori built the first examples around 1700 and called the instrument *gravicembalo col piano e forte*, a harpsichord with soft and loud.
Why is it called a piano?
Short for pianoforte, soft-loud, because it could vary volume with touch. The harpsichord could not.
Grand or upright?
Grands have horizontal strings and a faster repeating action. Uprights take less space and are cheaper, which is why most homes have them.