harmony

See also: Harmony

English

Etymology

First attested in 1602. From Middle English armonye, from Old French harmonie/armonie, from Latin harmonia, from Ancient Greek ἁρμονία (harmonía, “joint, union, agreement, concord of sounds”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑɹməni/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑːməni/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophone: hominy (god-guard merger and weak vowel merger)

Noun

harmony (countable and uncountable, plural harmonies)

1. Agreement or accord.
   • America's social harmony has depended at least to some degree on economic growth. It is easier to get along when everyone, more or less, is getting ahead. — Evan Thomas, Why It’s Time to Worry, Newsweek 2010-12-04
2. A pleasing combination of elements, or arrangement of sounds.
3. (music) The academic study of chords.
4. (music) Two or more notes played simultaneously to produce a chord.
5. (music) The relationship between two distinct musical pitches (musical pitches being frequencies of vibration which produce audible sound) played simultaneously.
6. A literary work which brings together or arranges systematically parallel passages of historians respecting the same events, and shows their agreement or consistency.

   a harmony of the Gospels

Related terms

Related terms

• harmonic
• harmonics
• harmonious
• harmonize

• harmonizer
• inharmonious
• philharmonic

Derived terms

Derived terms

• close harmony
• disharmony
• imitative harmony

• polyharmony
• vowel harmony

Translations

agreement or accord

• Arabic: اِنْسِجَام‏‎ m (insijām), تَوَافُق‏‎ m (tawāfuq)
• Bulgarian: съгласие (bg) n (sǎglasie)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 和諧 (zh), 和谐 (zh) (héxié), 和睦 (zh) (hémù), 調和 (zh), 调和 (zh) (tiáohé)

• Czech: soulad (cs) m
• Dutch: samenklank (nl) m, eendracht (nl) f, overeenstemming (nl) f
• Esperanto: harmonio
• Finnish: sopusointu, harmonia (fi)
• French: harmonie (fr) f
• German: Harmonie (de) f, Einklang (de) m
• Greek: αρμονία (el) f (armonía), αρμονικότητα (el) (armonikótita)
• Icelandic: jafnvægi (is) n, samlyndi (is) n, samræmi (is) n
• Indonesian: keselarasan (id)
• Italian: armonia (it) f
• Japanese: 調和 (ja) (ちょうわ, chōwa)

• Kurdish:

  Sorani: ئاهه‌نگ‏‎ (ku) (aheng)

• Latvian: harmonija f, saskaņa f
• Lithuanian: darna f, harmonija (lt) f
• Norman: harmonie f
• Portuguese: harmonia (pt) f
• Romanian: armonie (ro) f
• Russian: созву́чие (ru) n (sozvúčije), согла́сие (ru) n (soglásije), гармо́ния (ru) f (garmónija)
• Scottish Gaelic: rèite f, rèiteachadh m
• Serbo-Croatian: sazvučje (sh) n, sklad (sh) m, skladnost (sh) f, harmonija (sh) f
• Slovak: súlad m
• Spanish: armonía (es)
• Swedish: sämja (sv) c
• Westrobothnian: semd f

pleasing combination of elements, or arrangement of sounds

• Bulgarian: хармония (bg) f (harmonija), съзвучие (bg) n (sǎzvučie)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 諧和 (zh), 谐和 (zh) (xiéhé), 和諧 (zh), 和谐 (zh) (héxié)

• Czech: soulad (cs) m, harmonie (cs) f
• Esperanto: harmonio
• Finnish: sopusointu, harmonia (fi)
• French: harmonie (fr) f
• German: Harmonie (de) f, Wohlklang (de) m
• Greek: αρμονία (el) f (armonía)
• Icelandic: samhljómur (is) m
• Italian: armonia (it) f
• Japanese: 調和 (ja) (ちょうわ, chōwa)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: ئاهه‌نگ‏‎ (ku) (aheng)

• Latin: concentio f
• Manx: cochiaull
• Maori: reretahi
• Norwegian: harmoni (no) m
• Persian: هارمونی‏‎ (fa) (hârmoni)
• Portuguese: harmonia (pt) f
• Romanian: armonie (ro) f
• Russian: гармо́ния (ru) f (garmónija)
• Scottish Gaelic: co-cheòl m, co-fhuaim m, co-sheirm f
• Serbo-Croatian: sazvučje (sh) n, sklad (sh) m, skladnost (sh) f, saglasje (sh) n
• Slovene: sozvočje n, harmonija f
• Swedish: harmoni (sv) c
• Turkish: armoni (tr), uyum (tr), ahenk (tr)

music: the academic study of chords

• Bulgarian: хармония (bg) f (harmonija)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 和聲學 (zh), 和声学 (zh) (héshēngxué)

• Czech: harmonie (cs) f
• Finnish: sointuoppi
• French: harmonie (fr) f
• German: Harmonie (de) f
• Greek: αρμονία (el) f (armonía)
• Icelandic: hljómfræði f
• Irish: armóin f

• Italian: armonia (it) f
• Japanese: 和声学 (わせいがく, waseigaku)
• Latin: concentio f
• Portuguese: harmonia (pt) f
• Romanian: armonie (ro) f
• Russian: гармо́ния (ru) f (garmónija)
• Scottish Gaelic: co-sheirm f
• Spanish: armonía (es) f
• Swedish: harmonilära c
• Turkish: armoni (tr)

music: two or more notes played simultaneously to produce a chord

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 和聲 (zh), 和声 (zh) (heshēng), 哈默妮 (hāmònī)

• Dutch: samenklank (nl) m
• Finnish: sointu (fi)
• German: Harmonie (de) f
• Greek: αρμονία (el) f (armonía), συγχορδία (el) f (synchordía)
• Hungarian: akkord (hu)
• Icelandic: samhljómur (is) m
• Irish: armóin f
• Italian: armonia (it) f

• Japanese: ハーモニー (hāmonī), 和声 (ja) (わせい, wasei)
• Manx: cochiaull
• Portuguese: acorde (pt) m
• Romanian: armonie (ro) f
• Russian: гармо́ния (ru) f (garmónija), созву́чие (ru) n (sozvúčije), акко́рд (ru) m (akkórd)
• Scottish Gaelic: co-sheirm f
• Serbo-Croatian: sazvučje (sh) n
• Slovene: sozvočje n, harmonija f
• Swedish: ackord (sv) n
• Turkish: armoni (tr)

Further reading

• harmony in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• harmony in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911