diapason

See also: diapasón

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin diapason, from Ancient Greek διαπασῶν (diapasôn), that is διά (diá, “through”) + πασῶν (pasôn, “all”) (χορδῶν (khordôn, “notes”)), “through all (notes)”.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /daɪəˈpeɪzən/, /daɪəˈpeɪsən/
  • Rhymes: -eɪzən, -eɪsən

Noun

diapason (plural diapasons)

  1. (music) The musical octave.
    • 1818, Iamblichus; Thomas Taylor (translator), Life of Pythagoras‎, page 328:
      2 to 1, which is a duple ratio, forms the [symphony] diapason
  2. (by extension, literary) The range or scope of something, especially of notes in a scale, or of a particular musical instrument.
    Synonyms: range, scope
    • 1934, Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer:
      the piano curving like a conch, corollas giving out diapasons of light […]
    • 1961, Graham Greene, A Burnt-Out Case:
      he could hear nothing except the rattle of the crickets and the swelling diapason of the frogs […]
  3. (music) A tonal grouping of the flue pipes of a pipe organ.

Translations

Further reading

French

diapason (2)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin diapason, from Ancient Greek διαπασῶν (diapasôn), that is διά (diá, “through”) + πασῶν (pasôn, “all”) (χορδῶν (khordôn, “notes”)), “through all (notes)”.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /dja.pa.zɔ̃/

Noun

diapason m (countable and uncountable, plural diapasons)

  1. (music, uncountable) range, diapason
  2. (countable) a tuning fork
    Synonym: accordoir

Descendants

Further reading

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