fortepiano
/ˌfoɹ.teɪ.piˈænoʊ/noun
fortepiano is a noun meaning “A keyboard instrument; the smaller, quieter precursor to the pianoforte” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled F-O-R-T-E-P-I-A-N-O, and it appears about once in every 51 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of fortepiano is fortepianos; Wiktionary also lists fortepianoes (archaic).
What does fortepiano mean?
noun
- 1
A keyboard instrument; the smaller, quieter precursor to the pianoforte.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce fortepiano?
- UK /ˌfɔːteɪ.piˈænoʊ/
- US /ˌfoɹ.teɪ.piˈænoʊ/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-fortepiano.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of fortepiano
- fortepianos plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is fortepiano?
Fortepiano appears about once in every 51 million words in written English, the 222,788th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Fortepiano in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense Translations:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | Hammerklavier |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does fortepiano come from?
From Italian fortepiano, from forte (“loud”) + piano (“soft”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).