forte

See also: forté and fortë

Contents

English

Etymology 1

Borrowed from either French fort (“strong”) or Portuguese forte (“strong”), from Latin fortis (“strong”). Doublet of fort and fortis.

Pronunciation

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

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

Usage notes

Traditionally, forte (“strength, talent”) was a one-syllable word, like its French etymon. Perhaps due to confusion with forte (“loudly”), a two-syllable pronunciation also came into common use.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:forte

Translations

strength or talent

• Bulgarian: сила (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)

• Japanese: 強み (ja) (つよみ, tsuyomi)
• 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/
• (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

• 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

References

Anagrams

• Foret, fetor, frote, ofter

---

Esperanto

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈforte/
• Hyphenation: for‧te

Adverb

forte

1. strongly

Related terms

• forta
• forto
• malforta
• perforto

See also

• fortika

---

French

Adjective

forte

1. feminine singular of fort

Anagrams

• foret, forêt

---

Galician

Etymology

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

Adjective

forte m, f (plural fortes)

1. strong

---

Italian

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• enPR: fòrte, IPA^(key): /ˈfɔrte/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔrte

Noun

forte m (invariable)

1. fort, fortress

Synonyms

• fortezza
• fortilizio
• fortino
• bicocca
• piazzaforte
• roccaforte
• ridotta

Adjective

forte (masculine and feminine plural forti)

1. strong
2. (linguistics) stressed

   vocali forti ― stressed vowel

Synonyms

• robusto

Antonyms

• debole

Related terms

• fortemente
• fortezza
• fortificare
• forza

---

Latin

Etymology 1

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

Adverb

fortē (not comparable)

1. by chance, accidentally
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): fōrtuītō
• (perhaps): fōrsit, fōrsitan, fōrtasse, fōrtassis

Related terms

Terms related to forte

• fōrs
• fōrsan
• fōrsit

• fōrsitan
• fōrtasse
• fōrtassis

• fōrtuītō
• fōrtuītus
• fōrtūna

Etymology 2

From fōrs.

Noun

fōrte

1. ablative singular of fōrs

Etymology 3

From fortis.

Adjective

forte

1. nominative singular neuter of fortis
2. vocative singular neuter of fortis
3. accusative singular neuter of fortis

References

• forte in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, 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, 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
    
• Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, 1st edition. (Oxford University Press)

---

Norman

Adjective

forte f

1. feminine singular of fort

---

Norwegian Nynorsk

Adjective

forte

1. definite singular of fort
2. plural of fort

---

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, 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

---

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): /ˈfɔχt͡ʃɪ/, /ˈfɔɾt͡ʃɪ/
  • (Northeast Brazil) IPA^(key): [ˈfɔhtɪ], [ˈfɔhtʲ], [ˈfɔʈʲ]

Noun

forte m (plural fortes)

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

Adjective

forte m, 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