Bassist

How to spell bassist

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce bassist

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does bassist mean?

1. nounA musician who plays the bass guitar or the double bass.

Bassist in a sentence

• The band needed a steady bassist to anchor the rhythm section.

• As the bassist she rehearsed her low riffs every evening.

Where does bassist come from?

Language of origin: Italian

This word combines 'bass', the musical term for the lowest range of pitch, with the suffix '-ist', which marks a person who plays or practises something. The 'bass' element traces back through Italian 'basso', meaning 'low' or 'deep', to the Late Latin 'bassus', meaning 'thick, stout, or low', a word also lying behind the everyday 'base' meaning the bottom of something. English absorbed the musical sense of 'bass' in the late medieval period, when church and court music began to label voice parts by their pitch. The agent suffix '-ist' arrived through French and Latin from the Greek '-istes', used to name practitioners and adherents. 'Bassist' itself is a fairly modern formation, appearing in the nineteenth century alongside other instrument-and-player labels such as 'cellist' and 'pianist'. The spelling trap lies in the doubled 's' in the middle, carried straight over from 'bass', followed by the quiet '-ist' ending.

How the word is built

• bass (low musical range, from Italian basso 'low, deep')
• -ist (one who plays or practises)