Percussion

How to spell percussion

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce percussion

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does percussion mean?

1. nounThe group of musical instruments, such as drums and cymbals, that are played by being struck or shaken.
2. nounThe act of tapping a part of the body and listening to the resulting sound to assess what lies beneath the surface.

Percussion in a sentence

• The band needed a steady percussion section to hold the rhythm.

• The doctor used percussion on the patient's chest to check for fluid in the lungs.

• She studied percussion at the conservatory and now plays in an orchestra.

• Medical students practise percussion to detect changes in the abdomen.

Where does percussion come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin percussio, meaning 'a striking' or 'a beating', which was formed from the verb percutere, 'to strike through' or 'to beat hard'. That verb combined per-, meaning 'through' or 'thoroughly', with quatere, 'to shake or strike'; the same root also lies behind 'concussion' and 'discuss'. English took the word in by way of French around the early 1500s, at first in a general sense of one thing striking another. Over time it specialised into two everyday meanings: the family of musical instruments that are sounded by being hit, and the medical technique of tapping the body to judge what lies beneath. The tricky spelling preserves the doubled 's' of the Latin -cussio ending, while the unstressed first syllable hides the original per- 'through' that makes sense of the meaning.

How the word is built

• per- (through, thoroughly)
• -cuss- (from Latin quatere/-cutere: to shake, strike)
• -ion (noun-forming suffix)