forte

See also: forté and fortë

English

Etymology 1

Borrowed 1640–50; earlier fort < Middle French; disyllabic pronunciation by association with Italian forte, from Latin fortis (“strong”). Doublet of fort and fortis.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔːteɪ/, /ˈfɔːti/, /fɔːt/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔɹteɪ/, /ˈfɔɹti/, /fɔɹt/
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)t

Noun

forte (plural fortes)

1. A strength or talent.

   He writes respectably, but poetry is not his forte.

   • 1837, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Ethel Churchill, volume 2, page 115:

     Between ourselves, the country is rather triste, and you have given me positively a sensation; yet my forte is not the Arcadian: however, I will do my petit possible to console you for the loss of le beau Lindor, who was my predecessor.

2. The strong part of a sword blade, close to the hilt.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:forte

Translations

strength or talent

• Bulgarian: си́ла (bg) f (síla), силна страна f (silna strana)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 長處 (zh), 长处 (zh) (chángchu)

• Faroese: styrki f
• Finnish: vahvuus (fi), vahva puoli
• German: starke Seite f, Stärke (de) f
• Hungarian: erősség (hu)

• Italian: forte (it) m, punto forte m
• Japanese: 強み (ja) (つよみ, tsuyomi)
• Lithuanian: stiprybė (lt) f
• Polish: mocna strona f
• Portuguese: forte (pt) m
• Russian: си́льная сторона́ f (sílʹnaja storoná), си́ла (ru) f (síla)
• Spanish: fuerte (es) m, punto fuerte m
• Swedish: stark sida c, styrka (sv) c

the strong part of a sword blade, close to the hilt

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: juuri (fi)

• Hungarian: erős (hu)
• Russian: please add this translation if you can

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Italian forte (“strong”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔː.teɪ/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔɹ.teɪ/

Adjective

Forte notation.

forte (comparative fortissimo, superlative fortississimo)

1. (music) Loud. Used as a dynamic directive in sheet music in its abbreviated form, "f.", to indicate raising the volume of the music. (Abbreviated in musical notation with an f, the Unicode character 1D191.)

   This passage is forte, then there's a diminuendo to mezzo piano.

Translations

music: loud

• Bulgarian: силно (bg) (silno)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: forte (fi)

• German: forte (de)
• Hungarian: forte (hu)
• Russian: фо́рте (ru) (fórtɛ)

Adverb

forte (comparative fortissimo, superlative fortississimo)

1. (music) Loudly.

   The musicians played the passage forte.

Related terms

• fortepiano
• fortissimo
• fortississimo
• mezzo forte
• pianoforte

Translations

music: loudly

• Bulgarian: форте (forte)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: fortena (fi), kovaa (fi), voimakkaasti (fi)

• German: forte (de)
• Hungarian: forte (hu)
• Russian: форте (ru) (fórtɛ)

Noun

forte (plural fortes)

1. A passage in music to be played loudly; a loud section of music.

   This forte marks the climax of the second movement.

See also

• piano

Anagrams

• Foret, fetor, frote, ofter

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Danish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈfɒːd̥ə]

Etymology 1

From Old Danish forta, fortæ (“space around a horse”), see fortov (“pavement”).

Noun

forte c (singular definite forten, plural indefinite forter)

1. (historical) open space in a village
2. (historical) enclosed cattle path

Declension

Declension of forte

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	forte	forten	forter	forterne
genitive	fortes	fortens	forters	forternes

Further reading

• “Forte,1” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

Etymology 2

From Italian forte, from Latin fortis (“strong”).

Adverb

forte

1. (music) forte, loudly

   Antonym: piano

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Esperanto

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈforte/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: for‧te

Adverb

forte

1. strongly

Related terms

• forta
• forto
• malforta
• perforto

See also

• fortika

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɔʁt/

• Audio

  (file)

• Audio (CAN)

  (file)

Adjective

forte f sg

1. feminine singular of fort

Anagrams

• foret, forêt

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Galician

Etymology 1

From Old Galician and Old Portuguese forte, from Latin fortis, fortem (“strong”), from Old Latin forctis, fortis, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“to rise, high, hill”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɔɾte̝/

Adjective

forte m or f (plural fortes)

1. strong

Etymology 2

From praza forte, "strong place".

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɔɾte̝/

Noun

forte m (plural fortes)

1. fortress

References

• “forte” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006–2012.
• “forte” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006–2016.
• “forte” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “forte” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.

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Italian

Etymology

From Latin fortis, fortem, from Old Latin forctis, fortis, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“to rise, high, hill”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɔr.te/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔrte
• Hyphenation: fòr‧te

Noun

forte m (plural forti)

1. fort, fortress

   Synonyms: fortezza, fortilizio, fortino, bicocca, piazzaforte, roccaforte, ridotta

2. A strength or talent.

   La chimica non è il mio forte

Adjective

forte (plural forti, superlative fortissimo)

1. strong
2. (linguistics) stressed

   vocali forti ― stressed vowel

Synonyms

• robusto

Antonyms

• debole

Related terms

• fortemente
• fortezza
• fortificare
• forza

References

• forte in Dizionario di Italiano online - La Repubblica

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Latin

Etymology 1

From the ablative of fors (“chance, luck”).

Noun

forte

1. ablative singular of fors

Adverb

forte (not comparable)

1. by chance, accidentally

   Synonym: temere

2. once, once upon a time
3. perhaps, perchance,
4. as luck would have it
5. as it (just so) happens/happened

Synonyms

• (by chance): fortuītō
• (perhaps): forsit, forsitan, fortasse, fortassis

Related terms

• fors
• forsan
• forsit
• forsitan
• fortasse
• fortassis
• fortuītō
• fortuītus
• fortūna

 

Etymology 2

From fortis.

Adjective

forte

1. nominative/vocative/accusative singular neuter of fortis

References

• “forte”, in Charlton T[homas] Lewis; Charles [Lancaster] Short (1879) […] A New Latin Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Chicago, Ill.: American Book Company; Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• “forte”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• forte in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• forte in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) quite accidentally, fortuitously: temere et fortuito; forte (et) temere
    

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Norman

Adjective

forte f

1. feminine singular of fort

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Adjective

forte

1. definite singular of fort
2. plural of fort

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Old Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin fortis, fortem (“strong”), from Old Latin forctis, fortis, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“to rise, high, hill”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɔɾ.te/

Adjective

forte m or f (plural fortes)

1. strong; powerful (capable of producing great physical force)
2. (of wind, water, etc.) strong; fast moving etc.
3. (of a disease or symptom) strong; severe

Related terms

• fortaleza
• fortemente

Descendants

• Fala: forti
• Galician: forte
• Portuguese: forte

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Portuguese

Etymology

From Old Portuguese forte, from Latin fortis, fortem (“strong”), from Old Latin forctis, fortis, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“to rise, high, hill”).

Pronunciation

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔɾ.tɨ/
• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔʁ.t͡ʃi/, [ˈfɔχ.t͡ʃɪ]
  • (Northeast Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔh.tɪ/, /fɔhtʲ/, /fɔʈʲ/

Noun

forte m (plural fortes)

1. strength (pronounced quality), strong suit
2. fortress

Adjective

forte m or f (plural fortes, comparable)

1. capable of producing great force; strong; forceful

   O homem forte levantou o carro.

   The strong man lifted the car.

2. capable of withstanding great force; strong; durable
3. highly stimulating to the senses; intense; extreme; strong

   Senti um cheiro muito forte.

   I smelled a very strong odor.

4. (euphemistic) fat

Inflection

Inflection of forte

	singular		plural
	masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine
positive	forte	forte	fortes	fortes
comparative	mais forte	mais forte	mais fortes	mais fortes
superlative	o mais forte fortíssimo	a mais forte fortíssima	os mais fortes fortíssimos	as mais fortes fortíssimas
augmentative	fortão	fortona	fortões	fortonas
diminutive	fortinho	fortinha	fortinhos	fortinhas

Related terms

• força

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Romanian

Etymology

From Italian forte or Latin fortis.

Adjective

forte m or f or n (indeclinable)

1. strong, powerful

Declension

Declension of forte (invariable)

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	forte		forte	forte	forte
	definite	—		—	—	—
genitive/ dative	indefinite	forte		forte	forte	forte
	definite	—		—	—	—

Adverb

forte

1. strongly