euphony

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“
In the just published sonata with violoncello I find often passages which sound as if someone were preluding on the piano and knocked at all the keys to learn whether euphony was at home."

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Definitions (6)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. noun Agreeable sound, especially in the phonetic quality of words.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (3)

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Examples (50)

  • It has to be confessed that seldom, if ever, does Stevenson naturally and by sheer enthusiasm for subject and characters attain this natural simplicity, if he often attained the counterfeit presentment - artistic and graceful euphony, and new, subtle, and often unexpected concatenations of phrase. —  Robert Louis Stevenson, A Record, An Estimate, A Memorial
  • I had already bought the largest family Bible in the town as a repository for his name, Adam Cobb Moss, which in clear euphony is most fit to be enrolled among the sweetly sounding vocables of the Hebrew children. —  AFTERMATH: PART SECOND OF A KENTUCKY CARDINAL
  • In the just published sonata with violoncello I find often passages which sound as if someone were preluding on the piano and knocked at all the keys to learn whether euphony was at home FOOTNOTE: Aus Moscheles' Leben; Vol. —  Frederic Chopin as a Man and Musician, Volume 2
  • A principle of euphony, or affinity of syllabication, might be applied in the abbreviation of a few of this class of generic words: as Eo , God, from monedo THE ORDINARY NOUNS WOULD RUN THUS In, Man . —  Personal Memoirs Of A Residence Of Thirty Years With The Indian Tribes On The American Frontiers
  • In addition to its more commonly recognized senses, "euphony" also has a more specific meaning in the field of linguistics, where it can refer to the preference for words that are easy to pronounce; this preference may be the cause of an observed trend of people altering the pronunciation of certain words apparently in favor of sound combinations that are simpler and faster to say out loud. —  Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. French euphonie, from Late Latin euphōnia, from Greek euphōniā, from euphōnos, sweet-voiced : eu-, eu- + phōnē, sound; see bhā-2 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. = French euphonie = Spanish eufonía = Portuguese euphonia = Italian eufonia, from Late Latin euphonia, from Greek εὐφωνία, the quality of having a good voice (i. e., a sweet or a loud voice), loudness of voice, euphony, from εὐφωνος, having a good voice: see euphonous.
 

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/ˈjufəni/
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