staccato
/stəˈkɑːtoʊ/noun, adverb, adjective
staccato is spelled S-T-A-C-C-A-T-O: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 48,230th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, staccato means “An articulation marking directing that a note or passage of notes are to be played in an abruptly disconnected manner, with each note sounding for a…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of staccato is staccatos or staccati.
How many letters and syllables are in staccato?
| Letters | 8: S-T-A-C-C-A-T-O |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 3 million words; the 48,230th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is staccato?
Staccato appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 48,230th 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).
How do you pronounce staccato?
- /stəˈkɑːtoʊ/
Staccato has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-staccato.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Wodencafe-staccato.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of staccato
- staccatos plural
- staccati plural
- more staccato comparative
- most staccato superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does staccato mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An articulation marking directing that a note or passage of notes are to be played in an abruptly disconnected manner, with each note sounding for a very short duration, and a short break lasting until the sounding of the next note; as opposed to legato. Staccato is indicated by a dot directly above or below the notehead.
- 2
A passage having this mark.
- 3
Any sound resembling a musical staccato.
According to the syllable-timed hypothesis, Spanish syllables as staccato.
adverb
- 1
played in this style
Now, play the same passage very staccato.
adjective
- 1
Describing a passage having this mark.
- 2
Made up of abruptly disconnected parts or sounds.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Staccato in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense a style of playing short sharp notes:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Spanish | staccato |
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 staccato come from?
Borrowed from Italian staccato (“detached, disconnected”), past participle of staccare (“to detach, separate”), aphetic variant of distaccare (“to separate, detach”), from Middle French destacher (“to detach”), from Old French destachier (“to detach”), from des- + atachier (“to attach”), alteration of estachier (“to fasten with or to a stake, lay claim to”), from estache (“a stake”), from Low Frankish *stakkā (“stake”), from Proto-Germanic *stakkaz, *stakô (“stick, stake”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg- (“stick, stake”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).