piccolo
pronunciation
How to pronounce piccolo in British English:
UK [ˈpɪkələʊ]
How to pronounce piccolo in American English:
US [ˈpɪkəloʊ]
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- Noun:
- a small flute; pitched an octave above the standard flute
Word Origin
- piccolo (n.)
- 1856, piccolo flute, from French piccolo, from Italian flauto piccolo "small flute," from piccolo "small," perhaps a children's made-up word, or from picca "point," or from Vulgar Latin root *pikk- "little," related to *piccare "to pierce" (see pike (n.2)). Other sources suggest it is from the same source as French petit (see petit (adj.)).
Example
- 1. I always thought a piccolo made a man look silly .
- 2. Peter ignored him and put the piccolo to his lips and began playing .
- 3. We could not get them to stop playing peter 's piece , even when I stopped waving the piccolo .
- 4. I took the piccolo and , because I didn 't know what else to do , waved it around like a conductor 's baton , vaguely in synch with the whining of the gossamers .
- 5. Peter was more of the visual artist than I ( his focus was on sculpture ) , so I was surprised when he didn 't go for anything in the box but took out a piccolo and went up to the gossamers .