Where does “piano” come from?
piano (Norman) comes from English piano, from English pianoforte, from Italian pianoforte, from Italian piano, from Italian -ano, from Latin -ant, from Proto-Italic -āō, from Proto-Indo-European -eh₂yéti — he, she.
piano (Norman): piano
Definitions
- piano
Ancestry of “piano”, step by step
piano traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English piano
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | piano | a percussive keyboard musical instrument, usually... |
| 2 | English | pianoforte | A piano |
| 3 | Italian | pianoforte | piano, pianoforte |
| 4 | Italian | piano | plane; flat, level; plain |
| 5 | Italian | -ano | Used with a stem to form the third-person plural... |
| 6 | Latin | -ant | third-person plural present active indicative of... |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | -āō | Forms primarily denominative verbs |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -eh₂yéti | Creates iterative/ frequentative/ intensive... |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -yéti | Creates intransitive, often deponent,... |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | yé- | — |
| 11 | Chichewa | iye | he, she |
via French piano
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | piano | piano |