timbre

/ˈtæmbər/

/ˈtɑmbə/

Other forms: timbres

Timbre is a word that describes the tone or unique quality of a sound. If you play the same note on a piano and on a guitar, each note will have its own timbre.

Though an electric saw has its own timbre, as does the sound of a tree whooshing through the air, don't confuse timbre with "Timber!," the word you shout when chopping down trees. Timbre comes from the Greek word that means drum, and it is pronounced "TAM-burr," not "TIM-burr." Timber stems from an Old English word for building materials.

Definitions of timbre

1. noun

   (music) the distinctive property of a complex sound (a voice or noise or musical sound)
   “the timbre of her soprano was rich and lovely”

   synonyms: quality, timber, tone

   types:

   harmonic

   any of a series of musical tones whose frequencies are integral multiples of the frequency of a fundamental

   resonance

   the quality imparted to voiced speech sounds by the action of the resonating chambers of the throat and mouth and nasal cavities

   color, coloration, colour, colouration

   the timbre of a musical sound

   nasality

   a quality of the voice that is produced by nasal resonators

   plangency, resonance, reverberance, ringing, sonority, sonorousness, vibrancy

   having the character of a loud deep sound; the quality of being resonant

   shrillness, stridence, stridency

   having the timbre of a loud high-pitched sound

   register

   (music) the timbre that is characteristic of a certain range and manner of production of the human voice or of different pipe organ stops or of different musical instruments

   nasal twang, twang

   exaggerated nasality in speech (as in some regional dialects)

   head register, head tone, head voice

   the higher ranges of the voice in speaking or singing; the vibrations of sung notes are felt in the head

   chest register, chest tone, chest voice

   the lower ranges of the voice in speaking or singing

   type of:

   sound property

   an attribute of sound