French word

mélodie

Pronunciation

IPA/melodi/

Meaning

  • feminine nounmelody

Example

La mélodie de cette chanson est facile à retenir.

The melody of this song is easy to remember.

Illustration for mélodie (melody)

More examples

Il a sifflé la mélodie tout le trajet.

He whistled the melody the whole way.

Core concept

A sequence of pitched sounds and rhythms forming a recognizable, singable musical line.

Common phrases

  • chanter la mélodie

    sing the melody

Similar words

air: A brief, memorable tune or musical phrase.
paroles: The lyrics performed in a song.
rythme: A repeated pattern of beats created by varying note lengths and stresses.

Definition in French

Ligne musicale constituée par la succession des hauteurs et des rythmes, identifiable et souvent chantable.

Word origin

French mélodie comes through Old French from Latin melodia, borrowed from Greek melōidía, which referred to a sung melody.

Usage tips

  • Mélodie refers to the tune itself, while chanson can refer to the whole song, so une belle mélodie is natural for a song's tune.

Other meanings

  • tunenoun

Opposites

  • cacophoniecacophonynoun

Related words

  • mélodiquemelodicadjective
  • mélodiquementmelodicallyadverb

Word lists with this word