staccato

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staccato

/stəˈkɑːtoʊ/

Rhymes with -ɑːtəʊ

Where it comes from

Borrowed from Italian staccato (“detached, disconnected”), past participle of staccare (“to detach, separate”), aphetic variant of distaccare (“to separate, detach”), from Middle French destacher (“to detach”), from Old French destachier (“to detach”), from des- + atachier (“to attach”), alteration of estachier (“to fasten with or to a stake, lay claim to”), from estache (“a stake”), from Low Frankish *stakkā (“stake”), from Proto-Germanic *stakkaz, *stakô (“stick, stake”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg- (“stick, stake”). Akin to Old High German stecko (“post”) (German Stecken (“stick”)), Old Saxon stekko (“stake”), Old Norse stakkr (“hay stack, heap”), Old English staca (“stake”). More at stake.

noun staccatos · staccati

An articulation marking directing that a note or passage of notes are to be played in an abruptly disconnected manner, with each note sounding for a very short duration, and a short break lasting until the sounding of the next note; as opposed to legato. Staccato is indicated by a dot directly above or below the notehead.
A passage having this mark.
figuratively Any sound resembling a musical staccato. According to the syllable-timed hypothesis, Spanish syllables as staccato.

adverb more staccato · most staccato

played in this style Now, play the same passage very staccato.

adjective more staccato · most staccato

Describing a passage having this mark.
Made up of abruptly disconnected parts or sounds. The same nervous staccato laugh broke from her thin lips, and her fingers began to play with a long tortoise-shell paper-knife.

Opposite: legato

Thesaurus

adjective

Opposite: legato

Translations

Every language

noun a style of playing short sharp notes

Español	staccato
한국어	스타카토 seutakato
日本語	スタッカート sutakkāto
中文	斷奏 /断奏 duànzòu
Italiano	staccato
Ελληνικά	στακάτο stakáto
Русский	стакка́то stakkáto

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MLA

"staccato." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/staccato. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

staccato. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/staccato

Chicago

"staccato." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/staccato.

BibTeX

@misc{staccato_2026,
  title = {staccato},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/staccato},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}