ostinato
French, noun\ɔs.ti.na.to\
ostinato is spelled O-S-T-I-N-A-T-O (8 letters) and appears about once in every 18 million words in written French, the 138,201st most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Ostinato is a French masculine noun meaning “ostinato” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Répétition obstinée d’une formule rythmique, mélodique ou harmonique accompagnant de manière immuable les…”.
What does ostinato mean in English?
noun
- 1
masculineostinato
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Répétition obstinée d’une formule rythmique, mélodique ou harmonique accompagnant de manière immuable les différents éléments thématiques durant tout le morceau.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of ostinato
- ostinatos plural
- ostinati singular
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce ostinato?
- \ɔs.ti.na.to\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
How common is ostinato in French?
ostinato appears about once in every 18 million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).