Accompaniment

How to spell accompaniment

13 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce accompaniment

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does accompaniment mean?

1. nounSomething that goes along with or completes another thing.
2. nounA supporting musical part played beneath a melody or singer.

Accompaniment in a sentence

• A crisp salad is the perfect accompaniment to grilled fish.

• The pianist provided a gentle accompaniment for the choir.

• The report included charts as a visual accompaniment to the figures.

• She sang the solo over a quiet guitar accompaniment.

Where does accompaniment come from?

Language of origin: French

This word traces back through Old French to the verb 'accompagner', meaning to go along with or to keep company with someone. That verb was built on 'compaignon', the source of our 'companion', which came from a late Latin formation meaning literally 'one who shares bread', from the Latin 'com' (with) and 'panis' (bread). English took 'accompany' in the late 1400s and later added the abstract suffix '-ment' to form a noun naming the thing that goes alongside. The musical sense, the supporting part played beneath a melody, grew naturally from the idea of something travelling together with the main line. The buried 'bread' origin is a useful memory hook: the word hides the same 'pan' that survives in 'companion' and 'company', so the tricky middle is 'com-pan-i-ment'.

How the word is built

• ac- (to)
• com- (with)
• pan (bread, via companion)
• -i-
• -ment (noun suffix)