Harmonies

How to spell harmonies

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce harmonies

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does harmonies mean?

1. nounPleasing combinations of musical notes sounded together.
2. nounStates of peaceful agreement or pleasing arrangement between things.

Harmonies in a sentence

• The choir practised the close vocal harmonies for an hour.

• The report describes the delicate harmonies between rival departments.

• The song layers two guitar harmonies over a simple beat.

• The garden design balances colours and textures into quiet harmonies.

Where does harmonies come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word descends from the Greek harmonia, which originally meant a joining or a fitting together, and only later came to mean musical concord and general agreement. That noun grew out of harmos, meaning a joint or fastening, and the verb harmozein, meaning to fit or join together, so the earliest sense was deeply physical: pieces locking neatly into place. Latin took the word over as harmonia, and it reached English in the late 1300s through Old French armonie or harmonie, at first describing the pleasing combination of musical sounds. The plural simply follows the regular English rule of changing a final consonant plus -y into -ies, which is the main spelling point to remember. A useful relative is the verb to harmonise, which keeps the same Greek root and the same idea of parts agreeing.

How the word is built

• harmon- (from Greek harmonia: joining, agreement)
• -y (noun suffix)
• -ies (plural)