Orchestral

How to spell orchestral

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce orchestral

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does orchestral mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to, written for, or performed by an orchestra.

Orchestral in a sentence

• The film score blends electronic beats with a sweeping orchestral arrangement.

• She spent three years studying orchestral composition at the conservatory.

Where does orchestral come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word traces back to the ancient Greek orkhestra, which literally named the semicircular space at the front of a theatre where the chorus sang and danced, from the verb orkheisthai, meaning 'to dance'. Latin took the term as orchestra, and in Rome the meaning shifted to the seating area reserved for senators near the stage. When the word reached English through Latin and French in the 1600s, it gradually came to mean the group of musicians who play together, and later the part of the building where they sat. The adjective orchestral, formed by adding the Latin-style suffix -al, appeared in the early 1800s to describe music written for, or performed by, such an ensemble. The surprising spelling trap is the 'ch' that sounds like a hard 'k', a fingerprint left by its Greek origin, the same reason 'orchid' and 'chorus' keep their silent-looking 'ch'.

How the word is built

• orchestr- (from Greek orkhestra, the dancing space)
• -al (adjective suffix: relating to)