melody

See also: Melody

English

Etymology

From Middle English melodie, melodye, from Old French melodie, from Latin melodia, from Ancient Greek μみゅーεいぷしろんλらむだῳδίᾱ (melōidíā, “singing, chanting”), from μέλος (mélos, “musical phrase”) + ἀοιδή (aoidḗ, “song”), contracted form ᾠδή (ōidḗ).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛl.ə.di/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛl.ə.di/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

melody (plural melodies)

1. A sequence of notes that makes up a musical phrase
   • 1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], “The Sayings of Slid (whose Soul is by the Sea)”, in The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC, page 15:

     There is a melody upon the Earth as though ten thousand streams all sang together for their homes that they had forsaken in the hills.

   • 1954, Alexander Alderson, chapter 1, in The Subtle Minotaur:

     Slowly she turned round and faced towards a neat white bungalow, set some way back from the path behind a low hedge of golden privet. No light showed, but someone there was playing the piano. The strange elusiveness of the soft, insistent melody seemed to draw her forward.

Synonyms

• (sequence of notes that makes up a musical phrase): tune

Coordinate terms

• harmony
• rhythm
• tone color

Derived terms

• cat's melody
• C melody
• countermelody
• melodic
• melodious
• melodium

 

Related terms

• melodrama

Translations

sequence of notes that makes up a musical phrase

• Albanian: melodi (sq) f
• Arabic: لَحْن m (laḥn), أُغْنِيَّة f (ʔuḡniyya)

  Egyptian Arabic: لحن m (laḥn)

• Armenian: մեղեդի (hy) (meġedi)
• Azerbaijani: melodiya, təranə, nəğmə (az)
• Bashkir: көй (köy)
• Belarusian: мело́дыя f (mjelódyja), маты́ў m (matýŭ), напе́ў m (napjéŭ)
• Bengali: সুর (bn) (śur)
• Breton: kerzenn f
• Bulgarian: мело́дия (bg) f (melódija), моти́в (bg) m (motív), напе́в (bg) m (napév)
• Burmese: တေးသွား (my) (te:swa:)
• Catalan: melodia (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 曲調きょくちょう／曲きょく调 (zh) (qǔdiào), 曲きょく子こ (zh) (qǔzi), 歌曲かきょく (zh) (gēqǔ), 旋律せんりつ (zh) (xuánlǜ)

• Czech: melodie (cs) f, nápěv m
• Danish: melodi (da) c
• Dutch: melodie (nl) f
• Esperanto: melodio
• Estonian: meloodia
• Farefare: melodia
• Faroese: lag n
• Finnish: melodia (fi), sävel (fi)
• French: mélodie (fr) f
• Galician: melodía (gl) f
• Georgian: მელოდია (melodia), ჰანგი (ka) (hangi)
• German: Melodie (de) f
• Greek: μελωδία (el) f (melodía)

  Ancient: μみゅーεいぷしろんλらむだῳδία f (melōidía), μέλος n (mélos)

• Hebrew: מַנגִינָה (he) f (manginá), לַחַן (he) m (lákhan)
• Hindi: राग (hi) m (rāg), लय (hi) f (lay), तराना (hi) (tarānā), धुन (hi) f (dhun)
• Hungarian: dallam (hu), melódia (hu)
• Hunsrik: Mëlotie f
• Icelandic: lag (is) n
• Ido: melodio (io)
• Indonesian: melodi (id)
• Irish: séis f
• Italian: melodia (it) f
• Japanese: 歌曲かきょく (ja) (かきょく, kakyoku), 調しらべ (ja) (しらべ, shirabe), 旋律せんりつ (ja) (せんりつ, senritsu), メロディー (ja) (merodī), 曲きょく (ja) (きょく, kyoku)
• Kazakh: әуен (äuen), мелодия (melodiä), күй (küi), саз (saz)
• Khmer: បទភ្លេង (bɑt phleing)
• Korean: 멜로디 (ko) (mellodi), 곡(曲きょく) (ko) (gok), 선율(旋律せんりつ) (ko) (seonyul), 곡조(曲調きょくちょう) (ko) (gokjo), 악곡(樂曲がっきょく) (ko) (akgok)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ئاواز (awaz)

  Northern Kurdish: awaz (ku)

• Kyrgyz: мелодия (melodiya), обон (obon), күү (küü)
• Lao: ທຳນອງ (tham nǭng)
• Latin: melodia, canor m
• Latvian: melodija f
• Lithuanian: melodija f
• Macedonian: мелодија (mk) f (melodija), напев m (napev)
• Malay: melodi
• Maori: rangi (mi)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: ая (mn) (aja), аялгуу (mn) (ajalguu)

• Norman: mélodie f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: melodi (no) m

• Old English: swinn m
• Pashto: آهنګ m (āhang), اهنګ m (āhang), لحن m (lahǝn)
• Persian: آهنگ (âhang), ملودی (fa) (melodi), لحن (fa) (lahn)
• Plautdietsch: Wies f
• Polish: melodia (pl) f
• Portuguese: melodia (pt) f
• Romanian: melodie (ro) f
• Russian: мело́дия (ru) f (melódija), моти́в (ru) m (motív), напе́в (ru) m (napév)
• Scottish Gaelic: fonn m, port m, mànran m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: мѐло̄дија f, напев m

  Roman: mèlōdija (sh) f, napev m

• Slovak: melódia f, nápev m
• Slovene: melodija f
• Spanish: melodía (es) f
• Swedish: melodi (sv) c
• Tagalog: melodiya
• Tajik: оҳанг (tg) (ohang), мелодия (melodiya), лаҳн (lahn)
• Tatar: көй (tt) (köy)
• Thai: ทำนอง (th) (tam-nɔɔng)
• Tocharian B: kene
• Turkish: melodi (tr), ezgi (tr)
• Turkmen: mukam, saz, heň, melodiýa
• Ukrainian: мело́дія (uk) f (melódija), моти́в m (motýv), на́спів m (náspiv)
• Urdu: آہنگ (ur) m (āhang), راگ m (rāg), ترانہ m (tarāna), دھن f (dhun)
• Uyghur: مېلودىيە (mëlodiye), ئاھاڭ (ahang)
• Uzbek: melodiya (uz), ohang (uz), tarona (uz)
• Vietnamese: giai điệu (vi), âm điệu (vi)
• Volapük: melod (vo)
• Welsh: alaw (cy) f
• Yiddish: ניגון m (nign), ניגונדל n (nigndl), ניגן m (nign), מעלאָדיע f (melodye)

See also

• scale
• tune
• harmony
• music

Anagrams

• moyled