Standard Lemma guide

etude

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /eɪˈtjuːd/
  • UK: /eɪˈtuːd/
  • US: /ˈeɪˌtud/
  • US: /ˈeɪˌtjud/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with (UK) -uːd

1

noun

Meaning 1

A short piece of music, designed to give a performer practice in a particular area or skill.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, music

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: study

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a short composition for a solo instrument; intended as an exercise or to demonstrate technical virtuosity

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: musical composition, opus, composition, piece, piece of music

History

Etymology

From around the year 1837, borrowed from French étude (“study”) from Latin studium. Doublet of studio and study.

Across languages

Translations

32 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Azerbaijani: etüd — piece of music
  • Bulgarian: етюд (etjud) — piece of music
  • Catalan: estudi — piece of music
  • Chinese Mandarin: 練習曲 /练习曲 (liànxíqǔ) — piece of music
  • Czech: etuda — piece of music
  • Danish: etude — piece of music
  • Dutch: etude — piece of music
  • Estonian: etüüd — piece of music
  • Finnish: etydi — piece of music
  • German: Etüde — piece of music
  • Hebrew: אֶטיוּד — piece of music
  • Hungarian: etűd — piece of music
  • Icelandic: etýða — piece of music
  • Icelandic: æfing — piece of music
  • Italian: studio — piece of music
  • Japanese: 練習曲 (renshūkyoku) — piece of music
  • Korean: 연습곡 (yeonseupgok) — piece of music
  • Latvian: etīde — piece of music
  • Lithuanian: etiudas — piece of music
  • Macedonian: ети́да (etída) — piece of music
  • Polish: etiuda — piece of music
  • Portuguese: étude — piece of music
  • Romanian: studiu — piece of music
  • Russian: этю́д (etjúd) — piece of music
  • Slovak: etuda — piece of music
  • Slovene: etida — piece of music
  • Slovene: etuda — piece of music
  • Spanish: estudio — piece of music
  • Swedish: etyd — piece of music
  • Turkish: etüt — piece of music
  • Ukrainian: етюд (etjud) — piece of music
  • Uzbek: etyud — piece of music