Word.ws English Dictionary

plagal

/ˈpleɪɡəl/

plagal adjective: designating a mode lying a perfect fourth below the authentic form.

Adjective

plagal (comparative more plagal, superlative most plagal)

  1. Designating a mode lying a perfect fourth below the authentic form.
    • […] [Carol] King uses the plagal coda as affirmation in “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman”, the 1967 anthem to liberated female sexuality that King co-wrote with [Gerry] Goffin for Aretha Franklin.2025 December 6, Helen Barrett, “Tapesty of talent”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 8
  2. Designating a cadence in which the subdominant chord precedes the tonic.

Antonyms of plagal

Forms of plagal

comparativemore plagal
superlativemost plagal

Origin of plagal

From Late Latin plagalis, from plaga, from plagius, from Byzantine Ancient Greek πλάγιος (plágios, “plagal”), πλάγιος (plágios, “oblique”).

Words formed from plagal

Phrases with plagal

Words that rhyme with plagal

Questions about plagal

What does plagal mean?
Plagal means designating a mode lying a perfect fourth below the authentic form.
What part of speech is plagal?
Plagal is an adjective.
How do you pronounce plagal?
Plagal is pronounced /ˈpleɪɡəl/.

Words near plagal in the dictionary

  1. plafibride
  2. plafond
  3. plafonds
  4. plag
  5. plagae
  6. plagal
  7. plagal cadence
  8. plagal cadences
  9. plagally
  10. plagarism
  11. plagate

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: plagal (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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