cadenza

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian cadenza, from Latin cadentia. Doublet of cadence and chance.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kəˈdɛnzə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

cadenza (plural cadenzas or cadenze)

1. (music) A part of a piece of music, such as a concerto, that is very decorative and is played by a single musician.
   • 1993, John Banville, Ghosts:

     Yes, laugh, as I want to laugh for instance in the concert hall when the orchestra trundles to a stop and the virtuoso at his piano, hunched like a demented vet before the bared teeth of this enormous black beast of sound, lifts up deliquescent hands and prepares to plunge into the cadenza.

2. (South African slang) to become agitated or excited.

Translations

decorative solo piece of music

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 华彩 (zh) (huá cǎi)

• French: cadence (fr) f
• German: Kadenz (de) f
• Hungarian: kadencia (hu)
• Italian: cadenza (it) f
• Maori: wāhanga takitahi
• Russian: каде́нция (ru) f (kadɛ́ncija)
• Ukrainian: каде́нція (uk) f (kadéncija)

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaˈdɛn.t͡sa/
• Rhymes: -ɛntsa
• Hyphenation: ca‧dèn‧za

Etymology 1

From Vulgar Latin *cadentia, from Latin cadēns, present participle of cadō (“to fall”). Doublet of chance.

Noun

cadenza f (plural cadenze)

1. cadence
2. rhythm

Derived terms

• cadenzare

Descendants

Descendants

Many of the borrowings have had their endings Latinized.

• → Catalan: cadència
• → Danish: kadence
• → Friulian: cadence
• → Dutch: cadens
• → Dutch: cadans
• → Esperanto: kadenco
• → Estonian: kadents
• → Finnish: kadenssi
• → German: Kadenz
• → Hebrew: קדנצה
• → Hungarian: kadencia
• → Old French: cadence
  • → Middle English: cadence
    • English: cadence
  • Middle French: cadence
    • French: cadence
  • Norman: cadenche
• → Ido: kadenco
• → Occitan: cadéncia
• → Portuguese: cadência, cadenza
• → Romanian: cadență
• → Russian: каденция (kadencija)
• → Serbo‐Croatian: kadenca, каденца
• → Slovene: kadenca
• → Spanish: cadencia, cadenza
• → Ukrainian: каденція (kadencija)

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

cadenza

1. inflection of cadenzare:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• cadenza in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana