timbre

timbre

See also: Timbre, timbré, and tîmbre

English

WOTD – 5 January 2012

Etymology

From French timbre, ultimately from Ancient Greek τύμπανον (túmpanon, “drum”). Doublet of tympanum.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtæmbə/, /tɛ̃br(ə)/[1]
• (General American) enPR: tăm'bər, tĭm'bər, IPA^(key): /ˈtæm.bɚ/, /ˈtɪm.bɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Homophone: timber (only for the pronunciation that has an /ɪ/ sound)
• Rhymes: -æmbə(ɹ), -ɪmbə(ɹ)

Noun

timbre (countable and uncountable, plural timbres)

1. The quality of a sound independent of its pitch and volume.
   • 1931, H. P. Lovecraft, chapter 7, in The Whisperer in Darkness:

     It was a hard whisper to catch at first, since the grey moustache concealed all movements of the lips, and something in its timbre disturbed me greatly; but by concentrating my attention I could soon make out its purport surprisingly well.

2. The pitch of a sound as heard by the ear, described relative to its absolute pitch.

   When someone speaks after inhaling helium, his voice has a higher timbre. With sulfur hexafluoride, the result is a lower timbre.

3. (heraldry) The crest on a coat of arms.

Translations

quality of a sound independent of its pitch and volume

Bulgarian: тембър (bg) m (tembǎr) Catalan: timbre (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 音色 (zh) (yīnsè) Czech: barva zvuku m Danish: klang c, klangfarve c, timbre c Dutch: klankkleur (nl) f, timbre (nl) n Finnish: sointiväri (fi) French: timbre (fr) m Galician: timbre (gl) m German: Klangfarbe f, Timbre (de) n Greek: ηχόχρωμα (el) n (ichóchroma) Hungarian: hangszín (hu), hangszínezet (hu), hangárnyalat (hu) Icelandic: hljómblær m, tónblær m Italian: timbro (it) m Japanese: 音色 (ja) (ねいろ, neiro) Macedonian: те́мбр m (témbr) Maori: hā Norwegian: Bokmål: klang (no) m, klangfarge (no) m or f, timbre (no) m Occitan: timbre m Polish: tembr (pl) m, barwa (pl) f Portuguese: timbre (pt) m Romanian: timbru (ro) n Russian: тембр (ru) m (tɛmbr) Serbo-Croatian: timbar (sh) m, boja zvuka f Spanish: timbre (es) m Swedish: klang (sv) c, klangfärg (sv) c, timbre (sv) c Tagalog: kaalngawan

References

1. The Chambers Dictionary, 9th Ed., 2003

Further reading

• timbre on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• betrim, biterm, timber

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Bikol Central

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish timbre.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: tim‧bre
• IPA^(key): /ˈtimbɾe/

Noun

timbre

1. doorbell
2. brand; seal; stamp

   Synonyms: selyo, tatak

Derived terms

• magtimbre
• timbrehan

 

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Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from French timbre.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /ˈtim.bɾə/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈtim.bɾe/

Noun

timbre m (plural timbres)

1. (heraldry) timbre
2. (music) timbre
3. doorbell

Further reading

• “timbre” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

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French

Etymology

From Old French timbre, via Byzantine Greek, from Ancient Greek τύμπανον (túmpanon, “drum”). Less likely a direct descendant of Latin tympanum. Doublet of tympan.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɛ̃bʁ/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

timbre m (plural timbres)

1. small bell
2. (postage) stamp, postage stamp
3. stamp (mark)
4. (music) timbre

Derived terms

• timbrer

Descendants

• → Hausa: tambur
• → Luxembourgish: Timber
• → Persian: تمبر‎
  • → Azerbaijani: təmr

Further reading

• “timbre”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “timbre”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

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Occitan

Pronunciation

• Audio (Béarn)

  (file)

Noun

timbre m (plural timbres)

1. postage stamp

   Synonym: sagèl

2. timbre (quality of a sound independent of its pitch and volume)

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Old French

Noun

timbre m (oblique plural timbres, nominative singular timbres, nominative plural timbre)

1. timbrel

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Portuguese

Noun

timbre m (plural timbres)

1. timbre (quality of a sound independent of its pitch and volume)
2. seal (pattern, design)

   Synonyms: selo, sinete

3. (heraldry) crest

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

timbre

1. inflection of timbrar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

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Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtimbɾe/ [ˈt̪ĩm.bɾe]
• Rhymes: -imbɾe
• Syllabification: tim‧bre

Etymology 1

From French timbre (“quality of a sound; sound of a bell”), from Old French timbre (“bell without a clapper, drum”), via Byzantine Greek from Ancient Greek τύμπανον (túmpanon, “drum”). Doublet of tímpano.

Noun

timbre m (plural timbres)

1. bell

   Synonym: campana

2. doorbell
3. stamp

   Synonym: sello

4. postmark

   Synonym: matasellos

5. seal

   Synonym: sello

6. timbre

Hyponyms

• timbre fiscal (“revenue stamp, fiscal stamp”)

Derived terms

• timbrar
• timbrazo
• tímbrico

Verb

timbre

1. inflection of timbrar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “timbre”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
• timbre (acústica) on the Spanish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^es
• timbre (canto) on the Spanish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^es

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Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from French timbre. Attested since 1802.

Noun

timbre c

1. (beautiful) timbre (especially of a voice)

Declension

Declension of timbre
	Uncountable
	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	timbre	timbren	—	—
Genitive	timbres	timbrens	—	—

References

• timbre in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• timbre in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• timbre in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

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Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish timbre.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: tim‧bre
• IPA^(key): /ˈtimbɾe/, [ˈtim.bɾe]

Noun

timbre

1. buzzer; electric bell (especially of a door)
2. push button of a buzzer or electric bell

   Synonyms: pindutan, boton

3. act of pushing a buzzer

   Synonym: pagtimbre

4. seal; stamp (tool)

   Synonyms: selyo, panatak, pantatak

5. impression made by a sealing machine

   Synonym: tatak

6. (figurative, colloquial) act of alerting someone about something (especially in order to avoid being caught doing something wrong)

Derived terms

• magtimbre
• pagkatimbre
• pagtimbre
• timbrehan
• timbrehin
• tumimbre