Word.ws English Dictionary

chord

UK/kɔːd//kɔɹd/

chord noun: a harmonic set of three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously.

chord: a harmonic set of three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously
Image: Hyacinth, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

chord (plural chords)

  1. A harmonic set of three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously.
    • He struck the opening chords of the passage; but this time Irene's voice was silent. Victor stopped in the middle of an arpeggio.1956, Delano Ames, chapter 14, in Crime out of Mind
  2. A line segment between two points of a curve.
    • The simplest method of calculating the radius of a curve in situ is to measure the versine; in railway practice this is done by extending a tape 66 ft. (1 ch.) long in a straight line or chord between two points on the periphery of a curve, and then measuring the maximum distance of the rail from...1941 September, “The Why and the Wherefore: Curves”, in Railway Magazine, page 430
  3. A horizontal member of a truss.
    1. A section of subsidiary railway track that interconnects two primary tracks that cross at different levels, to permit traffic to flow between them.
  4. The distance between the leading and trailing edge of a wing, measured in the direction of the normal airflow.
  5. An imaginary line from the luff of a sail to its leech.
  6. A keyboard shortcut that involves two or more distinct keypresses, such as Ctrl+M followed by P.
    • Ctrl-K is the default first key for chords, but you can create chords using any keys that you want.2005, James Avery, Visual Studio hacks, page 99
  7. The string of a musical instrument.
    • Instruments that made melodious Chime
      Was heard, of Harp and Organ; and who mov'd
      Their Stops and Chords was seen1667, John Milton, “(please specify the page number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker...
  8. A cord.
  9. An edge that is not part of a cycle but connects two vertices of the cycle.

Verb

chord (third-person singular simple present chords, present participle chording, simple past and past participle chorded)

  1. (transitive) To write chords for.
    • This chording technique works well for learning any tune, but this is the only tune of the set that I will write out completely as a chorded version.2003, Dan Levenson, Clawhammer Banjo from Scratch
  2. To accord; to harmonize together.
    • This note chords with that one.
  3. (transitive) To provide with musical chords or strings; to string; to tune.
    • When Jubal struck the chorded shell.1687, John Dryden, A Song for Cecilia's Day
    • Even the solitary old pine tree chords his harp.1862, Henry Ward Beecher, Eyes and Ears

chord meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Bengali

chord in Hindi

straight line
जीवा jīvā

chord in Tamil

நாண், நாளம், யாழ் நரம்பு, வீணைத் தந்தி, பன்னிசை, ஒத்திசைக்கும் சுரஇயைபு

chord in Marathi

chord
जीवा jīvā

chord in Bengali

straight line
জ্যা jê
More languagesFewer languages
chord in Malayalam
ഞാൺ, വീണക്കമ്പി, ചരട്, ശബ്ദലയം
chord in Kannada
ಜ್ಯಾ jyā
chord in Tagalog
bagting, sanlinigan, akorde
chord in Arabic
وَتَر watar, اِئْتِلَاف نَغَمَات iʔtilāf naḡamāt
chord in Malay
perentas, kord
chord in Indonesian
tali busur, akor
chord in Persian
وتر vatar, زه zeh, آکورد âkord
chord in Thai
คอร์ด kɔ̀ɔt
chord in Vietnamese
hợp âm

Examples of chord in a sentence

  • A dominant seventh chord is spelled with a diminished seventh interval, not a major sixth.
  • The way you spell a chord reflects its harmonic function.
  • A chord and the radius that bisects it are orthogonal.

All 40 example sentences with chord

Forms of chord

Noun
pluralchords
alternative form (dated)cord
Verb
third-person singular presentchords
present participlechording
past participlechorded
pastchorded

Plural of chord: chords

Origin of chord

Variant of cord, with spelling alteration due to Latin chorda (“cord”), ultimately from Ancient Greek χορδή (khordḗ, “string of gut, the string of a lyre”). No relation to French accord (“chord”) and its derivations. Doublet of cuerda.

Words formed from chord

Phrases with chord

Words that rhyme with chord

40 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about chord

What does chord mean?
Chord means a harmonic set of three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously.
What is chord in Hindi?
Chord in Hindi is जीवा (jīvā). See Chord meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is chord?
Chord can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce chord?
Chord is pronounced /kɔːd/ (UK).
What is the plural of chord?
The plural of chord is chords.

Words near chord in the dictionary

  1. Chorasmians
  2. chorba
  3. Chorbajian
  4. Chorbajians
  5. Chorbas
  6. chord
  7. chord change
  8. chord changes
  9. chord organ
  10. chord organs
  11. chord progression

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: chord (page history and authors); chord (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); जीवा (Marathi) (page history and authors); chord (Malayalam Wiktionary) (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-chord.ogg.

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