Standard Lemma guide

madrigal

noun · 5 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.

  • /ˈmæd͡ɹɪɡəl/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: M AE1 D R AH0 G AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
  • CMU ARPABET 2: M AE1 D R IH0 G AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A song for a small number of unaccompanied voices; from 13th century Italy.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, music

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A polyphonic song for about six voices, from 16th century Italy.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, music

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A short poem, often pastoral, and suitable to be set to music.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: communications, journalism, literature, media, poetry, publishing, writing

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

an unaccompanied partsong for 2 or 3 voices; follows a strict poetic form

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: partsong

5

verb

Meaning 5

sing madrigals

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • The group was madrigaling beautifully

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: sing

History

Etymology

From Italian madrigale, from Latin mātrīcālis.

Across languages

Translations

35 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: մադրիգալ (madrigal) — either musical sense
  • Belarusian: мадрыга́л (madryhál) — either musical sense
  • Bulgarian: мадригал (madrigal) — either musical sense
  • Chinese Cantonese: 牧歌 (muk6 go1) — either musical sense
  • Chinese: 牧歌 (bo̍k-ko͘) — either musical sense
  • Chinese Mandarin: 牧歌 (mùgē) — either musical sense
  • Dutch: madrigaal — either musical sense
  • Esperanto: madrigalo — either musical sense
  • Finnish: madrigaali — either musical sense
  • French: madrigal — either musical sense
  • Galician: madrigal — either musical sense
  • Georgian: მადრიგალი (madrigali) — either musical sense
  • German: Madrigal — either musical sense
  • Greek: μαδριγάλι (madrigáli) — either musical sense
  • Hungarian: madrigál — either musical sense
  • Icelandic: madrígal — either musical sense
  • Icelandic: madrígali — either musical sense
  • Ido: madrigalo — either musical sense
  • Italian: madrigale — either musical sense
  • Japanese: マドリガル (madorigaru) — either musical sense
  • Korean: 마드리갈 (madeurigal) — either musical sense
  • Kyrgyz: мадригал (madrigal) — either musical sense
  • Latin: madrigalis — either musical sense
  • Lithuanian: madrigalas — either musical sense
  • Manx: ronniaght — either musical sense
  • Polish: madrygał — either musical sense
  • Portuguese: madrigal — either musical sense
  • Russian: мадрига́л (madrigál) — either musical sense
  • Serbo-Croatian: мадрѝга̄л — either musical sense
  • Serbo-Croatian: madrìgāl — either musical sense
  • Slovak: madrigal — either musical sense
  • Slovene: madrigál — either musical sense
  • Spanish: madrigal — either musical sense
  • Swedish: madrigal — either musical sense
  • Ukrainian: мадрига́л (madryhál) — either musical sense
Real reading context

madrigal in complete knowledge articles

Come Again (Dowland) Arts & music · Accessible · 1 uses