harmonic

See also: harmònic

English

Alternative forms

• harmonick (obsolete)

Etymology

From Latin harmonicus, from Ancient Greek ἁρμονικός (harmonikós), from ἁρμονία (harmonía, “harmonie”).

Adjective

harmonic (comparative more harmonic, superlative most harmonic)

1. pertaining to harmony
2. pleasant to hear; harmonious; melodious
   • (Can we date this quote?) Alexander Pope

     harmonic twang of leather, horn, and brass.

3. (mathematics) used to characterize various mathematical entities or relationships supposed to bear some resemblance to musical consonance

   The harmonic polar line of an inflection point of a cubic curve is the component of the polar conic other than the tangent line.

4. recurring periodically
5. (Australianist linguistics) Of or relating to a generation an even number of generations distant from a particular person.
   • 1966, Kenneth Hale, Kinship Reflections in Syntax: Some Australian languages

     A person is harmonic with respect to members of his own generation and with respect to members of all even-numbered generations counting away from his own (e.g., his grandparents' generation, his grandchildren's generation, etc.).

Derived terms

• disharmonic
• harmonic addition theorem
• harmonic analysis
• harmonic brick
• harmonic conjugate
• harmonic conjugate function
• harmonic coordinates
• harmonic decomposition
• harmonic divisor number
• harmonic equation
• harmonic expansion
• harmonic form
• harmonic function
• harmonic-geometric mean
• harmonic homology
• harmonic logarithm
• harmonic map
• harmonic mean
• harmonic mean index
• harmonic number
• harmonic parameter
• harmonic progression
• harmonic quadrilateral
• harmonic range
• harmonic ratio
• harmonic segment
• harmonic series
• harmonic series of primes
• harmonic system of points

 

Translations

pertaining to harmony

• Bulgarian: хармоничен (bg) (harmoničen)
• Catalan: harmònic
• Czech: harmonický (cs) m
• Dutch: harmonisch (nl)
• Finnish: harmoninen (fi)
• French: harmonique (fr)

• Galician: harmónico m
• German: harmonisch (de)
• Irish: armónach m
• Italian: armonico (it)
• Russian: гармони́ческий (ru) (garmoníčeskij)
• Spanish: armónico (es)

pleasant to hear

• Bulgarian: хармоничен (bg) (harmoničen), мелодичен (bg) (melodičen)
• Dutch: harmonisch (nl)
• Finnish: harmoninen (fi)
• French: harmonieux (fr), harmonique (fr), mélodieux (fr), mélodique (fr)

• German: harmonisch (de)
• Italian: armonico (it)
• Russian: гармони́чный (ru) (garmoníčnyj)
• Spanish: armónico (es)

mathematical attribute of mathematical entities

• Czech: harmonický (cs) m
• Finnish: harmoninen (fi)

• French: harmonique (fr)
• Italian: armonico (it)

Noun

harmonic (plural harmonics)

1. (physics) a component frequency of the signal of a wave that is an integer multiple of the fundamental frequency
2. (music) the place where, on a bowed string instrument, a note in the harmonic series of a particular string can be played without the fundamental present

Translations

a component frequency of the signal of a wave — See also translations at overtone

• Bulgarian: хармонична (bg) f (harmonična)
• Dutch: harmonische (nl) c

• Maori: hawarite
• Russian: гармо́ника (ru) (garmónika)

Anagrams

• choirman, chromian, omniarch