Interval

How to spell interval

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce interval

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does interval mean?

1. nounA space of time or distance between two events, points, or things.
2. nounA break between the parts of a play, concert, or performance.
3. nounThe difference in pitch between two musical notes.

Interval in a sentence

• The buses run at a regular interval throughout the day.

• We bought ice cream during the interval at the theatre.

• The singer struggled to pitch the wide interval between the two notes.

• After a short interval the meeting resumed.

• The second act begins fifteen minutes after the interval.

• A perfect fifth is a common interval in folk melodies.

Where does interval come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin intervallum, which literally described the space between two ramparts or palisades in a fortification. It was built from inter, meaning 'between', and vallum, meaning 'rampart' or 'defensive wall', the same vallum that gives us 'wall' itself. The original military picture of a gap between defences gradually softened into the general idea of any empty space or pause between two things. English took the word in during the 1300s, by way of Old French, and it quickly broadened to cover gaps in time, in pitch, and in distance. The spelling keeps the buried Latin 'vall' intact, which is a useful reminder that the tricky middle is 'val' (as in wall), not 'vel'.

How the word is built

• inter- (between)
• vall (from vallum: rampart, wall)
• -al (noun suffix)