legato

Borrowed from Italian legato, past participle of legare (“to tie up, tie together, to bind”), learned borrowing from Latin ligō (“tie, bind”). Doublet of ligate.

• (UK) enPR: lə-gäʹtō, IPA^(key): /ləˈɡɑ.təʊ/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (US) enPR: lə-gäʹtō, IPA^(key): /ləˈɡɑ.toʊ/
• Rhymes: -ɑːtəʊ
• Hyphenation: le‧ga‧to

legato (not comparable)

1. (music) Smoothly, in a connected manner.

   Antonyms: portato, staccato

   Play this passage legato, not portato.

• legatissimo

legato (countable and uncountable, plural legatos)

1. (music) A style of performance characterized by smoothly connected notes.
   • 1936, Edward E. Cramer, The Basis of Artistry in Violin Playing, page 49:

     It is the coördination of the finger and hand as examplified in the proportionate speed of shifting according to the speed of the musical passage, which makes for evenness, continuity, smoothness, and ultimately, a fine legato.

   • 1979, Leslie Sheppard, Herbert R. Axelrod ·, Paganini, page 604:

     At the end of the prelude of Caprice V, there is a chromatic ascending and descending scale of forty-eight notes to be played in one bow in legato.

   • 1989, Siglind Bruhn, Guidelines to Piano Interpretation, page 97:

     Clementi, in his "Introduction to the art of playing the piano-forte" (1801) still had to advise pianists that : "the best general rule is to keep the keys of the instrument suppressed during the whole length of the note" (p.8) and "whenver the composer leaves the legato or staccato to the taste of the performer, the best rule is to use the legato in most cases and to reserve the staccato in order to give particular passages more spirit and to enhance the higher beauties of the legato."

2. (music) A passage that is played legato.
   • 1893, The Organ: Monthly Journal Devoted to the King of Instruments, page 198:

     It schools the mind to watch for the legato all the time, as its absence at the organ is mor prominent than at the piano; but beyond this point it renders little assitance to the pianist.

   • 1958, József Gát, The Technique of Piano Playing, page 95:

     A good pianist, however, will make his audience believe that he is as capable of performing a legato as is a singer or violinist.

   • 2000, Chroma Report, page 15:

     Legatos are indicated in both notations by a bow between respective notes.

• Goleta, gelato

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

legato (accusative singular legaton, plural legatoj, accusative plural legatojn)

1. singular present nominal passive participle of legi

From Latin legatus.

legato (accusative singular legaton, plural legatoj, accusative plural legatojn)

1. (Catholicism) legate

From Italian legato.

legato (uncountable, accusative legaton)

1. (music) legato

Borrowed from Italian legato.

• IPA^(key): /lə.ɡa.to/

legato m (plural legatos)

1. (music) legato

• “legato”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• IPA^(key): /leˈɡa.to/
• Rhymes: -ato
• Hyphenation: le‧gà‧to

From legare.

legato (feminine legata, masculine plural legati, feminine plural legate, superlative legatissimo)

1. awkward, stiff
2. linked, connected, tied
3. close, attached, involved

legato (feminine legata, masculine plural legati, feminine plural legate)

1. past participle of legare

• legato¹ in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

From Latin lēgātus.

legato m (plural legati)

1. legate
2. legacy, bequest, background

• legato pontificio
• prelegato

• legato² in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

• gelato, tegola, togale

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /leːˈɡaː.toː/, [ɫ̪eːˈɡäːt̪oː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /leˈɡa.to/, [leˈɡäːt̪o]

lēgātō m

1. dative/ablative singular of lēgātus

lēgātō

1. dative/ablative masculine/neuter singular of lēgātus

Borrowed from Italian legato.

• IPA^(key): /lɛˈɡa.tɔ/
• Rhymes: -atɔ
• Syllabification: le‧ga‧to

legato n (indeclinable, related adjective legatowy)

1. (music) legato (style of performance characterized by smoothly connected notes)

   Antonym: staccato

2. (figurative, literary) legato (any sound resembling a musical legato)

or

Indeclinable

legato (not comparable, no derived adverb)

1. (music) legato (describing a passage having this mark)

   Antonym: staccato

legato (not comparable)

1. (music) legato (played in this style)

   Antonym: staccato

• legato I in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• legato II in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• legato in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• legato in PWN's encyclopedia

Unadapted borrowing from Italian legato.

legato

1. legato

legato (not comparable)

1. (music) legato

legato n

1. (music) legato (in a connected manner)
2. (music) legato (legato passage)

• staccato

• legato in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• legato in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• legato in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)