melody

See also: Melody

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

melody

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle English melodie, melodye, from Old French melodie, from Latin melodia, from Ancient Greek μελῳδίᾱ (melōidíā, “singing, chanting”), from μέλος (mélos, “musical phrase”) + ἀοιδή (aoidḗ, “song”), contracted form ᾠδή (ōidḗ).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛl.ə.di/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛl.ə.di/

• Audio (US):

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Noun

melody (plural melodies)

1. A sequence of notes that makes up a musical phrase
   • 1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], “The Sayings of Slid (whose Soul is by the Sea)”, in The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC, page 15:

     There is a melody upon the Earth as though ten thousand streams all sang together for their homes that they had forsaken in the hills.

   • 1954, Alexander Alderson, chapter 1, in The Subtle Minotaur:

     Slowly she turned round and faced towards a neat white bungalow, set some way back from the path behind a low hedge of golden privet. No light showed, but someone there was playing the piano. The strange elusiveness of the soft, insistent melody seemed to draw her forward.

Synonyms

• (sequence of notes that makes up a musical phrase): tune

Coordinate terms

• harmony
• rhythm
• tone color

Derived terms

• cat's melody
• C melody
• countermelody
• melodic
• melodious
• melodium

 

Related terms

• melodrama

Translations

sequence of notes that makes up a musical phrase

Albanian: melodi (sq) f Arabic: لَحْن m (laḥn), أُغْنِيَّة f (ʔuḡniyya) Egyptian Arabic: لحن m (laḥn) Armenian: մեղեդի (hy) (meġedi) Azerbaijani: melodiya, təranə, nəğmə (az) Bashkir: көй (köy) Belarusian: мело́дыя f (mjelódyja), маты́ў m (matýŭ), напе́ў m (napjéŭ) Bengali: সুর (bn) (śur) Breton: kerzenn f Bulgarian: мело́дия (bg) f (melódija), моти́в (bg) m (motív), напе́в (bg) m (napév) Burmese: တေးသွား (my) (te:swa:) Catalan: melodia (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 曲調／曲调 (zh) (qǔdiào), 曲子 (zh) (qǔzi), 歌曲 (zh) (gēqǔ), 旋律 (zh) (xuánlǜ) Czech: melodie (cs) f, nápěv m Danish: melodi (da) c Dutch: melodie (nl) f Esperanto: melodio Estonian: meloodia Farefare: melodia Faroese: lag n Finnish: melodia (fi), sävel (fi) French: mélodie (fr) f Galician: melodía (gl) f Georgian: მელოდია (melodia), ჰანგი (ka) (hangi) German: Melodie (de) f Greek: μελωδία (el) f (melodía) Ancient: μελῳδία f (melōidía), μέλος n (mélos) Hebrew: מַנגִינָה (he) f (manginá), לַחַן (he) m (lákhan) Hindi: राग (hi) m (rāg), लय (hi) f (lay), तराना (hi) (tarānā), धुन (hi) f (dhun) Hungarian: dallam (hu), melódia (hu) Hunsrik: Mëlotie f Icelandic: lag (is) n Ido: melodio (io) Indonesian: melodi (id) Irish: séis f Italian: melodia (it) f Japanese: 歌曲 (ja) (かきょく, kakyoku), 調べ (ja) (しらべ, shirabe), 旋律 (ja) (せんりつ, senritsu), メロディー (ja) (merodī), 曲 (ja) (きょく, kyoku) Kazakh: әуен (äuen), мелодия (melodiä), күй (küi), саз (saz) Khmer: បទភ្លេង (bɑt phleing) Korean: 멜로디 (ko) (mellodi), 곡(曲) (ko) (gok), 선율(旋律) (ko) (seonyul), 곡조(曲調) (ko) (gokjo), 악곡(樂曲) (ko) (akgok) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: ئاواز (awaz) Northern Kurdish: awaz (ku) Kyrgyz: мелодия (melodiya), обон (obon), күү (küü) Lao: ທຳນອງ (tham nǭng) Latin: melodia, canor m Latvian: melodija f Lithuanian: melodija f Macedonian: мелодија (mk) f (melodija), напев m (napev) Malay: melodi Maori: rangi (mi) Mongolian: Cyrillic: ая (mn) (aja), аялгуу (mn) (ajalguu) Norman: mélodie f Norwegian: Bokmål: melodi (no) m Old English: swinn m Pashto: آهنګ m (āhang), اهنګ m (āhang), لحن m (lahǝn) Persian: آهنگ (fa) (âhang), ملودی (fa) (melodi), لحن (fa) (lahn) Plautdietsch: Wies f Polish: melodia (pl) f Portuguese: melodia (pt) f Romanian: melodie (ro) f Russian: мело́дия (ru) f (melódija), моти́в (ru) m (motív), напе́в (ru) m (napév) Scottish Gaelic: fonn m, port m, mànran m Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: мѐло̄дија f, напев m Roman: mèlōdija (sh) f, napev m Slovak: melódia f, nápev m Slovene: melodija f Spanish: melodía (es) f Swedish: melodi (sv) c Tagalog: melodiya Tajik: оҳанг (tg) (ohang), мелодия (melodiya), лаҳн (lahn) Tatar: көй (tt) (köy) Thai: ทำนอง (th) (tam-nɔɔng) Tocharian B: kene Turkish: melodi (tr), ezgi (tr) Turkmen: mukam, saz, heň, melodiýa Ukrainian: мело́дія (uk) f (melódija), моти́в m (motýv), на́спів m (náspiv) Urdu: آہنگ (ur) m (āhang), راگ m (rāg), ترانہ m (tarāna), دھن f (dhun) Uyghur: مېلودىيە (mëlodiye), ئاھاڭ (ahang) Uzbek: melodiya (uz), ohang (uz), tarona (uz) Vietnamese: giai điệu (vi), âm điệu (vi) Volapük: melod (vo) Welsh: alaw (cy) f Yiddish: ניגון m (nign), ניגונדל n (nigndl), ניגן m (nign), מעלאָדיע f (melodye)

See also

• scale
• tune
• harmony
• music

Anagrams

• moyled