timbre

See also: Timbre, timbré, and tîmbre

English

WOTD – 5 January 2012

Etymology

From French timbre, ultimately from Ancient Greek τύμπανον (túmpanon, “drum”). Doublet of tympanum, timpani, timbal, and tymbal.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtæmbɹə/, /ˈtæmbə/, (dated) /tɛ̃bɹ(ə)/
• (General American) enPR: tăm'bər, tĭm'bər, IPA^(key): /ˈtæm.bɚ/, /ˈtɪm.bɚ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈtɪm.bə/

  • Audio (General Australian):

    (file)

• Homophone: timber (only for the pronunciation that has an /ɪ/ sound)
• Rhymes: -æmbə(ɹ), -ɪmbə(ɹ)

Noun

timbre (countable and uncountable, plural timbres)

2. The quality of a sound independent of its pitch and volume.

   Synonym: tone color

   Coordinate terms: pitch, volume

   • 1931, H. P. Lovecraft, chapter 7, in The Whisperer in Darkness:

     It was a hard whisper to catch at first, since the grey moustache concealed all movements of the lips, and something in its timbre disturbed me greatly; but by concentrating my attention I could soon make out its purport surprisingly well.

3. The pitch of a sound as heard by the ear, described relative to its absolute pitch.

   When someone speaks after inhaling helium, his voice has a higher timbre. With sulfur hexafluoride, the result is a lower timbre.

4. (heraldry, uncommon) The crest on a (helmet atop a) coat of arms.
   • 1492, "Confirmation of arms with difference and crest to Thomas and John Elyott by John Writhe, Garter, dated 7th July, 1492 (MS. queen's Coll. 139, No. 13.)", in 1925, Willoughby Aston Littledale, A Collection of Miscellaneous Grants, Crests, Confirmations, Augmentations and Exemplifications of Arms in the Mss. Preserved in the British Museum, Ashmolean Library, Queen's College, Oxford, and Elsewhere, page 70:

     Quarterly the First quarter Siluer [...], The second Siluer a Cheueron gules betweene three Castles Sables And to his timbre vpon his healme, an Elephants head in his proper Colours […]

   • 2002, Philippe Levillain, John W. O'Malley, The Papacy: Gaius-Proxies, Psychology Press, →ISBN, page 1145:

     The basilican pavilion [...] has frequently appeared on banners since the 13th century, but the pope has used it only rarely, as a timbre or crest above his coat of ARMS (a few examples exist from the time of MARTIN V).

Usage notes

• Not to be confused with timber, which has a different meaning.

Derived terms

• timbral
• timbred
• timbreless
• timbric
• timbrical

Translations

quality of a sound independent of its pitch and volume

• Bulgarian: тембър (bg) m (tembǎr)
• Catalan: timbre (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 音色 (zh) (yīnsè)

• Czech: barva zvuku m
• Danish: klang c, klangfarve c, timbre c
• Dutch: klankkleur (nl) f, timbre (nl) n
• Finnish: sointiväri (fi)
• French: timbre (fr) m
• Galician: timbre (gl) m
• German: Klangfarbe f, Timbre (de) n
• Greek: ηχόχρωμα (el) n (ichóchroma)
• Hungarian: hangszín (hu), hangszínezet (hu), hangárnyalat (hu)
• Icelandic: hljómblær m, tónblær m
• Indonesian: warna nada (id), cocok nada, irama nada
• Italian: timbro (it) m
• Japanese: 音色 (ja) (ねいろ, neiro)
• Macedonian: те́мбр m (témbr)
• Malay: warna ton
• Māori: hā
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: klang (no) m, klangfarge (no) m or f, timbre (no) m

• Occitan: timbre m
• Polish: tembr (pl) m, barwa (pl) f
• Portuguese: timbre (pt) m
• Romanian: timbru (ro) n
• Russian: тембр (ru) m (tɛmbr)
• Serbo-Croatian: timbar (sh) m, boja zvuka f
• Spanish: timbre (es) m
• Swedish: klang (sv) c, klangfärg (sv) c, timbre (sv) c
• Tagalog: kaalngawan
• Turkish: tını (tr)
• Ukrainian: тембр m (tembr)

Further reading

• timbre on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• betrim, biterm, timber

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from French timbre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern, Balearic, Central) [ˈtim.bɾə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia, Northwestern) [ˈtim.bɾe]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Noun

timbre m (plural timbres)

1. (heraldry) timbre
2. (music) timbre
3. doorbell

Further reading

• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “timbre”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

Central Bikol

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish timbre (“bell”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtimbɾe/ [ˈtim.bɾe]
• Hyphenation: tim‧bre

Noun

tímbre (Basahan spelling ᜆᜒᜋ᜔ᜊ᜔ᜍᜒ)

1. doorbell
2. brand; seal; stamp

   Synonyms: selyo, tatak

Derived terms

• magtimbre
• timbrehan

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French timbre, via Byzantine Greek, from Ancient Greek τύμπανον (túmpanon, “drum”). Less likely a direct descendant of Latin tympanum. Doublet of tympan.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɛ̃bʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Noun

timbre m (plural timbres)

1. small bell
2. (postage) stamp, postage stamp
3. stamp (mark)
4. (music) timbre
5. (phonology) quality of a vowel

Derived terms

• timbrer

Descendants

• → Amharic: ቴምብር (tembər)
• → English: timbre
• → Hausa: tambur
• → Iranian Persian: تَمْبْر (tambr), تمر (tamr) (colloquial)
  • → Azerbaijani: təmr
• → Khmer: តែម (taem)
• → Luxembourgish: Timber
• → Moroccan Arabic: تنبر (tanbar)
• → Vietnamese: tem

Further reading

• “timbre”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012
• Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “timbre”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Occitan

Pronunciation

• Audio (Béarn):

  (file)

Noun

timbre m (plural timbres)

1. postage stamp

   Synonym: sagèl

2. timbre (quality of a sound independent of its pitch and volume)

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtim.bre/

Noun

timbre

1. dative singular of timber

Old French

Noun

timbre oblique singular, m (oblique plural timbres, nominative singular timbres, nominative plural timbre)

1. timbrel

Descendants

• → French: timbre
  • → Amharic: ቴምብር (tembər)
  • → English: timbre
  • → Hausa: tambur
  • → Iranian Persian: تَمْبْر (tambr), تمر (tamr) (colloquial)
    • → Azerbaijani: təmr
  • → Khmer: តែម (taem)
  • → Luxembourgish: Timber
  • → Moroccan Arabic: تنبر (tanbar)
  • → Vietnamese: tem

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃĩ.bɾi/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃĩ.bɾi/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃĩ.bɾe/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈtĩ.bɾɨ/

• Hyphenation: tim‧bre

Etymology 1

From French timbre, ultimately from Ancient Greek τύμπανον (túmpanon, “drum”). Doublet of tímpano.

Noun

timbre m (plural timbres)

1. timbre (quality of a sound independent of its pitch and volume)
2. seal (pattern, design)

   Synonyms: selo, sinete

3. (heraldry) crest

Derived terms

• tímbrico

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

timbre

1. inflection of timbrar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “timbre”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “timbre”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtimbɾe/ [ˈt̪ĩm.bɾe]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -imbɾe
• Syllabification: tim‧bre

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French timbre (“quality of a sound; sound of a bell”), from Old French timbre (“bell without a clapper, drum”), via Byzantine Greek from Ancient Greek τύμπανον (túmpanon, “drum”). Doublet of tímpano.

Noun

timbre m (plural timbres)

1. bell

   Synonym: campana

2. doorbell
3. timbre
4. stamp

   Synonym: sello

5. postmark

   Synonym: matasellos

6. seal

   Synonym: sello

Hyponyms

• timbre fiscal

Derived terms

• timbrar
• timbrazo
• tímbrico

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

timbre

1. inflection of timbrar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “timbre”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025
• timbre (acústica) on the Spanish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^es
• timbre (canto) on the Spanish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^es

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from French timbre. Attested since 1802.

Noun

timbre c

1. (beautiful) timbre (especially of a voice)

Declension

Declension of timbre

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	timbre	timbres
	definite	timbren	timbrens
plural	indefinite	—	—
	definite	—	—

References

• “timbre”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “timbre”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “timbre”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)

Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish timbre.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈtimbɾe/ [ˈt̪im.bɾɛ]
• Rhymes: -imbɾe
• Syllabification: tim‧bre

Noun

timbre (Baybayin spelling ᜆᜒᜋ᜔ᜊ᜔ᜇᜒ)

1. buzzer; electric bell (especially of a door)
2. push button of a buzzer or electric bell

   Synonyms: pindutan, boton

3. act of pushing a buzzer

   Synonym: pagtimbre

4. seal; stamp (tool)

   Synonyms: selyo, panatak, pantatak

5. impression made by a sealing machine

   Synonym: tatak

6. (figurative, colloquial) act of alerting someone about something (especially in order to avoid being caught doing something wrong)

Derived terms

• magtimbre
• pagkatimbre
• pagtimbre
• timbrehan
• timbrehin
• tumimbre

See also

• dorbel

Further reading

• “timbre”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, 2018