piano
/ˈpjænəʊ/US/piˈænoʊ/
piano noun: a percussive keyboard musical instrument, usually ranging over seven octaves, with white and black colored keys, played by pressing these keys, causing hammers to strike strings.
Noun
piano (plural pianos or (archaic) pianoes)
- A percussive keyboard musical instrument, usually ranging over seven octaves, with white and black colored keys, played by pressing these keys, causing hammers to strike strings.
- The piano in his house takes up a lot of space.
- She has been taking lessons for many years and now plays piano very well.
- Synonyms:
- pianoforte
Verb (1)
piano (third-person singular simple present pianos, present participle pianoing, simple past and past participle pianoed)
- To play the piano.
- Anyhow I pianoed to my own ear, and had no thought at that time for an audience.1967, Harry F. Chaplin, A McCrae Miscellany, page 41
- Who comforted me with Madeleines and lime tea, with whipped cream in my cocoa in far off Ann Arbor while others selfishly fiddled, bassooned, pianoed only for their own ugly self-advancement!1978, Bertha Harris, Confessions of Cherubino, page 96
- To move (the fingers) up and down on, similar to the motions of a pianist playing the piano.
- He just stared at her, leaned back in his chair and pianoed his fingers along the tablecloth.2013, Ann Blair Kloman, A Diamond to Die For, page 29
- “Jean, it ain't right how you separated those two,” he said, and pianoed the little coffin with his fingers, tapping out his grievance.2017, Kim Michele Richardson, The Sisters of Glass Ferry
- To equip with a piano.
- Other buildings will also be erected and pianoed by the same architect.1889, The Engineering Record, Building Record and Sanitary Engineer, page 128
- A tabernacle has been built, burnt, rebuilt, electric lighted, organed, pianoed, and frequently filled — all during the last two years.1892, The Japan Daily Mail - Volume 18, page 772
Adverb
piano (comparative more piano, superlative most piano)
Adjective
piano (comparative more piano, superlative most piano)
- Soft, quiet.
- Gentle, soft, subdued.
- “Oh! yes, yes, there is not a word to be said against James Benwick[…]that soft sort of manner does not do him justice.”[…]
“Well, well, ladies are the best judges; but James Benwick is rather too piano for me[…]”1817 (date written), [Jane Austen], chapter XVIII, in Persuasion; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume IV, London: John Murray, […], 20 December 1817 (indicated as 1818), →OCLC - ‘Tradecraft, Chris,’ Enderby put in, who liked his bit of jargon, and Martindale, still piano, shot him a glance of admiration.1977, John Le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy, Folio Society, published 2010, page 160
- “Oh! yes, yes, there is not a word to be said against James Benwick[…]that soft sort of manner does not do him justice.”[…]
Verb (2)
piano (third-person singular simple present pianos, present participle pianoing, simple past and past participle pianoed)
- To become softer and less intense.
- “You know, Mrs. Wrigglechops,” pianoed Miss Drucilla , even more meekly and mildly than before, "the ace is either one or eleven."1839, Rosina Doyle Bulwer afterwards Bulwer Lytton (Baroness Lytton.), Cheveley; Or, The Man of Honour, page 385
- His tone pianoed on intimacy.2000, David R. Beasley, Aspects of Love: Three novellas, page 83
Proper noun capitalized: Piano
Piano (plural Pianos)
- A surname from Italian.
piano meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
piano in Hindi
- a keyboard musical instrument
- पियानो piyāno, महावाद्य mahāvādya
piano in Tamil
- a keyboard musical instrument
- பியானோ piyāṉō, கின்னரப்பெட்டி kiṉṉarappeṭṭi
piano in Marathi
- a keyboard musical instrument
- पियानो piyāno
piano in Urdu
- a keyboard musical instrument
- پِیانو piyāno
More languagesFewer languages
- piano in Bengali
- পিয়ানো piẏanō
- piano in Telugu
- పియానో, పియానోను
- piano in Malayalam
- പിയാനോ piyānō
- piano in Kannada
- ಪಿಯಾನೋ ವಾದ್ಯ
- piano in Punjabi
- ਪਿਆਨੋ piāno
- piano in Gujarati
- પિયાનો
- piano in Odia
- ପିଆନୋ, ପିଯ଼ାନୋ
- piano in Nepali
- पियानो
- piano in Tagalog
- piyano
- piano in Arabic
- بِيَانُو biyānō, مِعْزَف miʕzaf
- piano in Malay
- piano
- piano in Indonesian
- piano
- piano in Thai
- เปียโน bpiia-noo
- piano in Vietnamese
- dương cầm
- piano in Myanmar
- စန္ဒရား canda.ra:
Examples of piano in a sentence
- John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch, Arnold Weinstein, and others came to the house, taping their poems as I pianoed and zithered and drummed away.2008, John Gruen, Callas Kissed Me...Lenny Too!, page 138:
- We guitared and drummed and head banged and pianoed.2020, Becky Manawatu, Auē, page 139:
- The superintendent pianoed his fingers on the surface of a nearby desk.2020, Simon Lelic, The Search Party:
- Holly pianoed her fingers over her throat.2021, Emilya Naymark, Hide in Place:
Synonyms of piano
Forms of piano
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | pianos |
| plural (archaic) | pianoes |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | pianos |
| present participle | pianoing |
| past participle | pianoed |
| past | pianoed |
| Adverb | |
| comparative | more piano |
| superlative | most piano |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more piano |
| superlative | most piano |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Pianos |
Origin of piano
Clipping of pianoforte, from Italian pianoforte, from piano (“soft”) + forte (“strong”). So named because it could produce a wide range of varied volumes note-by-note, in contrast to older keyboard instruments, notably the harpsichord. Doublet of llano, plain, plane, and plan.
Borrowed from Italian piano.
Borrowed from Italian Piano.
Words formed from piano
- baby grand piano
- barrel piano
- boudoir piano
- cabinet piano
- Chicago piano
- cottage piano
- digital piano
- dumb piano
- electric piano
- finger piano
- floor piano
- giraffe piano
- grand piano
- honky-tonk piano
- Jewish piano
- nonpiano
- pianette
- pianica
- pianism
- pianist
- pianistic
- pianistics
- piano accordion
- piano bar
- piano bench
- pianocentric
- piano fingers
- piano-forte
- piano four hands
- pianoist
- piano keys
- pianola
- pianoless
- pianolike
- pianologue
- piano maker
- pianomania
- pianophile
- piano plate
- piano player
- piano polish
- piano-polish
- piano roll
- piano stool
- piano-violin
- piano wire
- player piano
- prepared piano
- pyramid piano
- reproducing piano
- Rhodes piano
- square piano
- steam piano
- straight piano
- street piano
- stride piano
- thumb piano
- toy piano
- upright piano
- virtual piano
Phrases with piano
Questions about piano
- What does piano mean?
- Piano means a percussive keyboard musical instrument, usually ranging over seven octaves, with white and black colored keys, played by pressing these keys, causing hammers to strike strings.
- What is piano in Hindi?
- Piano in Hindi is पियानो (piyāno), महावाद्य (mahāvādya). See Piano meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use piano in a sentence?
- John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch, Arnold Weinstein, and others came to the house, taping their poems as I pianoed and zithered and drummed away.
- What part of speech is piano?
- Piano can be a noun, a verb, an adverb or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce piano?
- Piano is pronounced /ˈpjænəʊ/ (UK).
- What is the plural of piano?
- The plural of piano is pianos.
Words near piano in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: piano (page history and authors); Piano (page history and authors); piano (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); piano (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); piano (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); piano (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); piano (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-piano.wav.
Cite this entry: “piano.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/piano. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.