Prelude

How to spell prelude

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce prelude

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does prelude mean?

1. nounAn action or event that introduces or leads up to a more important one, or a short introductory piece of music.

Prelude in a sentence

• The calm meeting proved to be a prelude to a long and bitter negotiation.

• The pianist opened the recital with a gentle prelude before the main sonata.

Where does prelude come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin praeludium, meaning 'a prelude' or 'something played beforehand', which was built from the prefix prae- 'before' and the verb ludere 'to play'. In its original musical sense it described a short passage performed to warm up or to introduce a larger work. English took the word in the early 1600s, partly through French prélude, and quickly extended it beyond music to mean any event that comes before and leads into a more important one. The same ludere root, literally 'to play', also gives us 'ludicrous', 'illusion', and 'allude', so the spelling preserves a hidden family of words about playing. Remembering that the ending is the same -lude found in 'interlude' and 'allude' helps fix the final 'e' and the single 'l' in the middle.

How the word is built

• pre- (before)
• lude (from Latin ludere, to play)