Cello

How to spell cello

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce cello

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does cello mean?

1. nounA large stringed instrument of the violin family, played upright between the knees with a bow.

Cello in a sentence

• She carried her cello onto the train in a padded case.

• The orchestra needed a second cello for the autumn concert.

Where does cello come from?

Language of origin: Italian

Cello is a short form of the Italian word violoncello, which entered English in the 1880s as musicians grew tired of saying the longer name in full. Violoncello is a diminutive of violone, meaning 'big viol' or 'large stringed instrument', so the full word literally meant 'a little big viol', a charming contradiction reflecting the instrument's mid-sized place in the string family. The root viola, the source of the modern viola and violin too, goes back through Old Provencal and ultimately to medieval Latin vitula for a stringed instrument. When English clipped the word down, it kept only the tail end, and for many years it was politely written with an apostrophe as 'cello to show the missing front. The apostrophe has since vanished, but the real spelling trap remains: the Italian c before e is pronounced like 'ch', so the ear hears 'chello' while the page demands a simple c and a single l.

How the word is built

• cell- (from Italian violoncello, a 'little big viol')
• -o (Italian noun ending)