F CLEF • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of F clef

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/ɛf klɛf/ Listen

noun

F n.

F is the sixth letter of the English alphabet, and a nonvocal consonant. Its form and sound are from the Latin. The Latin borrowed the form from a Greek digamma, which probably had the value of English w consonant. The form and value of Greek letter came from the Phoenician, the ultimate source being probably Egyptian. Etymologically f is most closely related to p, k, v, and b; as in E. five, Gr. pente; E. wolf, L. lupus, Gr. lykos; E. fox, vixen; fragile, break; fruit, brook, v. t.; E. bear, L. ferre.

(Mus.) The name of the fourth tone of the model scale, or scale of C. F sharp is a tone intermediate between F and G.

F clef, the bass clef. See under Clef.

See images of 'F clef'

Etymology of 'F clef'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"F clef" Quotes from Famous Books

... 'key,' because its position on the staff gave the 'key' to the position of the semitones and tones on the various lines and spaces. The six notes here mentioned are the G, A, B, C, D, E, in the bass staff. They could only be written (as they are yet) in one clef—namely, the F clef. The expression 'two notes have I,' as applied to the D, means that, in the key of G, D is called Sol; while in the key of C it would have the name Re; just as Hortensio is Hortensio, and at the same ...

— Shakespeare and Music - With Illustrations from the Music of the 16th and 17th centuries • Edward W. Naylor