clef
English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editBorrowed from Middle French clef, from Latin clāvis (“a key”). Doublet of clave and clavis.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editclef (plural clefs)
- (music) A symbol found on a musical staff that indicates the pitches represented by the lines and the spaces on the staff [from 16th c.]
Derived terms
editTranslations
editmusical symbol
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French
editEtymology
editSee clé.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editclef f (plural clefs)
- Alternative spelling of clé (“key”)
- (music) clef
- (heraldry) key; the device as shown on a coat of arms
Derived terms
editFurther reading
edit- “clef”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Middle French
editEtymology
editInherited from Old French clef.
Noun
editclef f (plural clefs)
Adjective
editclef m or f (invariable)
- key (vitally important)
Descendants
editOld French
editEtymology
editPronunciation
editNoun
editclef oblique singular, f (oblique plural cles, nominative singular clef, nominative plural cles)
Descendants
editCategories:
- English terms borrowed from Middle French
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English doublets
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *(s)kleh₂w-
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɛf
- Rhymes:English/ɛf/1 syllable
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Music
- French 1-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:French/e
- French terms with homophones
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French feminine nouns
- fr:Music
- fr:Heraldic charges
- French terms with irregularly silent consonant
- Middle French terms inherited from Old French
- Middle French terms derived from Old French
- Middle French lemmas
- Middle French nouns
- Middle French feminine nouns
- Middle French countable nouns
- Middle French adjectives
- Old French terms inherited from Latin
- Old French terms derived from Latin
- Old French terms with IPA pronunciation
- Old French lemmas
- Old French nouns
- Old French feminine nouns