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

Examples of arpeggio in a Sentence

The guitarist warmed up with a few simple arpeggios.

Recent Examples on the Web

The only time a musician ever appeared on the big screens was a single shot of Mike Dean, the producer who opened the show with an instrumental set, letting loose with some arpeggios on an old-school synthesizer. —Chris Willman, Variety, 27 June 2025

The arpeggio of the song was played by an American gentleman who is a pianist but has also been the Golden Globes music conductor for the past two years. —Katherine Gillespie, Vulture, 26 Feb. 2025

The non sequitur sends Grace into arpeggios of laughter, but once Dylan is out of earshot, Grace discloses to me that she’s begun to regard Dylan as one of her own children. —Barrett Swanson, Harper's Magazine, 2 Jan. 2025

A lot of that music has more arpeggios and all these things that feel like processing and a lot of activity in that way. —Ryan Fleming, Deadline, 10 Dec. 2024

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

Kids Definition

arpeggio

noun

ar·​peg·​gio är-ˈpej-ō 

-ˈpej-ē-ˌō

plural arpeggios

1

: the playing of the tones of a chord in succession and not at the same time

2

: a chord played in arpeggio