violin
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Italian violino (“little viola”), from viola + -ino (“forming diminutives”).
PronunciationEdit
- (US) IPA(key): /ˌvaɪəˈlɪn/, [ˌvaɪ̯ɪ̈ˈlɪn]
- (New Zealand) IPA(key): /ˌvɑeˈlɘn/, /ˌvɑe.ɘˈlɘn/
Audio (GA) (file) - Rhymes: -ɪn
NounEdit
violin (plural violins)
- A small unfretted stringed instrument with four strings tuned (lowest to highest) G-D-A-E, usually held against the chin and played with a bow.
- 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XX, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, OCLC 1227855:
- She was looking more like Sherlock Holmes than ever. Slap a dressing-gown on her and give her a violin, and she could have walked straight into Baker Street and no questions asked.
- When I play it like this, it's a fiddle; when I play it like this, it's a violin.
- (inexact, sometimes proscribed) Any instrument of the violin family, always inclusive of violins, violas, and cellos and sometimes further including the double bass.
- The string quartet, one of the most popular groupings in chamber music, is composed entirely of violins: two violins proper, one viola, and one cello.
- (music, metonymically) The position of a violinist in an orchestra or group.
Usage notesEdit
The distinction between violins and fiddles is typically contextual and cultural. The same instrument is considered a violin when playing classical music in formal settings, a fiddle when playing folk or country music, and variously described in other settings (such as jazz and rock) depending whichever term seems more appropriate to the speaker.
SynonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
DescendantsEdit
TranslationsEdit
string instrument
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VerbEdit
violin (third-person singular simple present violins, present participle violining, simple past and past participle violined)
- (transitive, intransitive) To play on, or as if on, a violin.
See alsoEdit
AnagramsEdit
CatalanEdit
VerbEdit
violin
- third-person plural present subjunctive form of violar
- third-person plural imperative form of violar
DanishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Italian violino, diminutive form of viola with diminutive suffix -ino.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
violin c (singular definite violinen, plural indefinite violiner)
DeclensionEdit
Declension of violin
| common gender |
Singular | Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| indefinite | definite | indefinite | definite | |
| nominative | violin | violinen | violiner | violinerne |
| genitive | violins | violinens | violiners | violinernes |
ReferencesEdit
PiedmonteseEdit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
violin m (plural violin)