pizzicato

[ pit-si-kah-toh; Italian peet-tsee-kah-taw ]

adjective
  1. played by plucking the strings with the finger instead of using the bow, as on a violin.

noun,plural piz·zi·ca·ti [pit-si-kah-tee; Italian peet-tsee-kah-tee]. /ˌpɪt sɪˈkɑ ti; Italian ˌpit tsiˈkɑ ti/.
  1. a note or passage so played.

Origin of pizzicato

1
1835–45; <Italian, past participle of pizzicare to pluck, pick, twang (a stringed instrument)

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use pizzicato in a sentence

  • Not that they are hard in a modern way: Bach knew nothing of harmonics, pizzicati, scales in octaves and tenths.

    Violin Mastery | Frederick H. Martens

British Dictionary definitions for pizzicato

pizzicato

/ (ˌpɪtsɪˈkɑːtəʊ) music /


adjective, adverb
  1. (in music for the violin family) to be plucked with the finger

noun
  1. the style or technique of playing a normally bowed stringed instrument in this manner

Origin of pizzicato

1
C19: from Italian: pinched, from pizzicare to twist, twang

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012