polyphony

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek πολυφωνία (poluphōnía); equivalent to poly- +‎ -phony.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pəˈlɪfəni/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

polyphony (countable and uncountable, plural polyphonies)

1. (music) Musical texture consisting of several independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice (monophony) or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords (homophony).
2. (literature) The quality of a text of being able to be read in more than one way.

   the polyphony of a biblical passage

Related terms

• polyphonal
• polyphonic

Translations

musical texture consisting of several independent melodic voices

• Albanian: gjâmë f, gjëmë (sq) f, vajtim (sq) f, pleqërishte (sq) f, lashtërishtë f
• Armenian: պոլիֆոնիա (hy) (polifonia)
• Belarusian: поліфані́я f (polifaníja), шматгало́ссе n (šmathalóssje), мнагагало́ссе n (mnahahalóssje)
• Bulgarian: полифо́ния f (polifónija), многогла́сие n (mnogoglásie)
• Catalan: polifonia (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 複音／复音 (zh) (fùyīn)

• Danish: polyfoni
• Dutch: polyfonie (nl) f
• Finnish: moniäänisyys, polyfonia (fi)
• French: polyphonie (fr) f
• Georgian: პოლიფონია sg (ṗoliponia)
• German: Mehrstimmigkeit f, Polyphonie f
• Greek: πολυφωνία (el) f (polyfonía)
• Hebrew: פוליפוניה
• Icelandic: fjölröddun f, pólýfónía f
• Italian: polifonia (it) f
• Japanese: ポリフォニー
• Korean: 다성음악 (daseong'eumak)
• Persian: چندصدایی (fa) sg
• Polish: polifonia (pl) f
• Portuguese: polifonia (pt) f
• Romanian: polifonie (ro) f
• Russian: полифони́я (ru) f (polifoníja), многоголо́сие (ru) n (mnogogolósije)
• Slovene: polifonija f
• Spanish: polifonía f
• Swedish: polyfoni (sv) c
• Ukrainian: поліфоні́я (uk) f (polifoníja), багатоголо́сся (uk) n (bahatoholóssja)

quality of a text of being able to be read in more than one way

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 複調／复调 (zh) (fùdiào)

See also

• organum
• heterophony