Word.ws English Dictionary

cantus firmus

Syllables: can·tus fir·musUK/ˈkæntəs ˈfɜːməs//ˈkæntəs ˈfɝməs/

cantus firmus noun: a preexisting melody forming the basis of a polyphonic composition.

Noun

cantus firmus (plural cantus firmi or canti firmi)

  1. A preexisting melody forming the basis of a polyphonic composition.

Forms of cantus firmus

pluralcantus firmi
pluralcanti firmi

Origin of cantus firmus

Unadapted borrowing from Latin cantus firmus (literally “fixed chant”).

Questions about cantus firmus

What does cantus firmus mean?
Cantus firmus means a preexisting melody forming the basis of a polyphonic composition.
What part of speech is cantus firmus?
Cantus firmus is a noun.
How do you pronounce cantus firmus?
Cantus firmus is pronounced /ˈkæntəs ˈfɝməs/ (US).
What is the plural of cantus firmus?
The plural of cantus firmus is cantus firmi.

Words near cantus firmus in the dictionary

  1. Cantua Creek
  2. Cantuarian
  3. Cantuarians
  4. cantus
  5. cantus firmi
  6. cantus firmus
  7. cantuta
  8. cantutas
  9. cantuzumab
  10. Cantwell
  11. Cantwells

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cantus firmus (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Jtle515-cantus firmus.wav.

Cite this entry: “cantus firmus.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cantus_firmus. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.