arpeggio
noun
ar·peg·gio är-ˈpe-jē-ˌō 
-ˈpe-jō
plural arpeggios
1
: production of the tones of a chord in succession and not simultaneously
2
: a chord played in arpeggio
Example Sentences
The guitarist warmed up with a few simple arpeggios.
Recent Examples on the Web Step right this way, through the glittering synth arpeggio and the moody breakbeat. 
Katie Bain, Billboard, 26 Aug. 2022 To actually construct an arpeggio or a response to the call of the singer. Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 19 May 2022 Chopin’s Nocturne No. 7, in C-sharp minor, begins with a low, ashen sound: a prowling arpeggio in the left hand, consisting only of C-sharps and G-sharps. Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 24 Jan. 2022 Each word is accompanied, almost musically illustrated, by a variant of a five-note arpeggio figure that uncannily embodies each concept. New York Times, 28 Nov. 2021 During each phase, the musicians would run through scales and arpeggios at varying volumes and tempos, performing dozens of intonations of every note. Chuck Squatriglia, Popular Science, 10 Jan. 2020 Already a skilled player, Anderson had no idea what technique Van Halen was using to achieve those orbiting arpeggios. Matt Wake | Mwake@al.com, al, 8 Jan. 2020 Taking up more than half of the remix’s ten-minute length, the breakdown is an extended trance induction, its arpeggios meditative and steadily increasing their speed upwards into the heavens. Billboard Staff, Billboard, 26 Nov. 2019 Fielding a request to do a spontaneous piece, Wheaton starts with an up-tempo, plinking line of notes, adds a brisk allegro melody that plays in syncopation against it, and finally pipes in a series of cascading arpeggios. Rand Richards Cooper, courant.com, 15 Nov. 2019 See More
Katie Bain, Billboard, 26 Aug. 2022 To actually construct an arpeggio or a response to the call of the singer. Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 19 May 2022 Chopin’s Nocturne No. 7, in C-sharp minor, begins with a low, ashen sound: a prowling arpeggio in the left hand, consisting only of C-sharps and G-sharps. Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 24 Jan. 2022 Each word is accompanied, almost musically illustrated, by a variant of a five-note arpeggio figure that uncannily embodies each concept. New York Times, 28 Nov. 2021 During each phase, the musicians would run through scales and arpeggios at varying volumes and tempos, performing dozens of intonations of every note. Chuck Squatriglia, Popular Science, 10 Jan. 2020 Already a skilled player, Anderson had no idea what technique Van Halen was using to achieve those orbiting arpeggios. Matt Wake | Mwake@al.com, al, 8 Jan. 2020 Taking up more than half of the remix’s ten-minute length, the breakdown is an extended trance induction, its arpeggios meditative and steadily increasing their speed upwards into the heavens. Billboard Staff, Billboard, 26 Nov. 2019 Fielding a request to do a spontaneous piece, Wheaton starts with an up-tempo, plinking line of notes, adds a brisk allegro melody that plays in syncopation against it, and finally pipes in a series of cascading arpeggios. Rand Richards Cooper, courant.com, 15 Nov. 2019 See More Word History
Etymology
borrowed from Italian, noun derivative of arpeggiare "to play the harp," from arpa "harp" (going back to a Vulgar Latin loan from Germanic *harpō- "harp") + -eggiare, factitive verb suffix, going back to Latin -idiāre, originally representing variant pronunciation (or spelling variant) of -izāre -ize — more at harp entry 1
First Known Use
circa 1724, in the meaning defined at sense 1
- alcohol-use disorder
- alcohol-use disorders
- alcoholature
- alcoholic
- alcoholically
- alcoholicities
- alcoholics
- alcoholise
- alcoholised
- alcoholises
- alcoholising
- alcoholism
- alcoholisms
- alcoholized
- alcoholizes
- alcoholizing
- alcoholometers
- alcoholometries
- alcohols
- alcoholytic
- alcometer
- alcometers
- alcoo-
- alcopop
- alcopops