Keynote

How to spell keynote

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce keynote

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does keynote mean?

1. nounThe leading speech that sets the central theme of a conference or event.
2. nounThe dominant idea or underlying tone of something.
3. nounThe first note of a scale, on which the musical key is based; the tonic.

Keynote in a sentence

• The chief executive delivered the keynote at the annual conference.

• Sustainability was the keynote of the whole marketing campaign.

• In the key of C major the keynote is the note C.

• Organisers booked a well known author to give the opening keynote.

• Fairness became the keynote of the manager's first meeting.

• The choir tuned carefully to the keynote before singing.

Where does keynote come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a native English compound built from two old Germanic words: 'key', from Old English 'caeg', a device for opening a lock, and 'note', which came into English through Old French from the Latin 'nota', meaning a mark, sign, or written character. The musical sense came first: by the seventeenth century 'keynote' named the note on which a musical key is founded, the tonic that anchors the whole scale. From that idea of a foundational tone, English speakers in the nineteenth century, especially in American political and conference culture, extended 'keynote' to mean the central theme of a speech or gathering, and then to the prominent address that sets that theme. The spelling is simply the two everyday words pushed together with no joining letter, which is the main thing to remember.

How the word is built

• key (the central or governing element)
• note (a musical tone, or a mark of significance)