ottava
adverb, noun
ottava is spelled O-T-T-A-V-A: 6 letters. It appears about once in every 59 million words in written English, the 240,237th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adverb, ottava means “One octave higher; as a marking, typically abbreviated 8va” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in ottava?
| Letters | 6: O-T-T-A-V-A |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 59 million words; the 240,237th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is ottava?
Ottava appears about once in every 59 million words in written English, the 240,237th 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).
Forms of ottava
- ottavas plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does ottava mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
One octave higher; as a marking, typically abbreviated 8va.
noun
- 1
Ottava rima.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does ottava come from?
From Italian ottava (“octave”) (also feminine form of ottavo (“eighth”), ordinal form of otto).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).