clavier

/kləˈvɪər/

Other forms: claviers

A clavier is a musical instrument with a keyboard, such as a piano. Sometimes, the keyboard itself is called a clavier.

The word clavier comes from the Latin clavis, meaning "key." Historically, a clavier was any stringed keyboard instrument, such as the clavichord, harpsichord, or pianoforte, in which sounds are produced when the player strikes keys that cause hammers or plucks to vibrate strings inside the instrument. In English, the word clavier most often refers to these early keyboard instruments. A famous and still-popular collection of keyboard music, The Well-Tempered Clavier, was composed by Johann Sebastian Bach in the 1720s.

Definitions of clavier

1. noun

   a stringed instrument that has a keyboard
   synonyms: Klavier

   types:

   cembalo, harpsichord

   a clavier with strings that are plucked by plectra mounted on pivots

   spinet

   early model harpsichord with only one string per note

   pair of virginals, virginal

   a legless rectangular harpsichord; played (usually by women) in the 16th and 17th centuries

   type of:

   keyboard instrument

   a musical instrument that is played by means of a keyboard

   stringed instrument

   a musical instrument in which taut strings provide the source of sound
2. noun

   a bank of keys on a musical instrument
   synonyms: fingerboard, piano keyboard

   type of:

   keyboard

   device consisting of a set of keys on a piano or organ or typewriter or typesetting machine or computer or the like