Wordwyrt

melody

/ˈmelədi/MEH-luh-dee
/ˈmɛlədi/MEH-luh-dee

Meaningsinging a song

Common meaning: a sequence of notes

Other meanings: a tune

‘song, tune (Greek melos)’ + ‘a song, a sung poem’ → melody

Journey through time

  1. Aryan root · reconstructed√WAD‘speak, recite, sing’No written record; from Skeat’s list of Aryan roots, no. 340, p. 742 · scan
  2. Greekᾠδή‘a song, a sung poem’
  3. Latinmelodia
  4. Old Frenchmelodiesource
  5. Middle Englishmelodiesource
  6. Englishmelody‘a sequence of notes’ · today

od also in: odeparodyrhapsody

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Built on Greek ᾠδή ‘a song, a sung poem’.

Did you know: our wording, based on Liddell & Scott, Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon (1889), entry ᾠδή, p. 85 · dictionary scan

Roots

  • ᾠδή Greek “a song, a sung poem”

Related words

odeparodyrhapsody

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