Standard Lemma guide

passacaglia

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: /ˌpasəˈkɑːlɪ.ə/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: /ˌpɑsəˈkɑljə/

1

noun

Meaning 1

A form of historical Spanish or Italian dance characterised by a serious nature, triple meter, and use of a ground bass.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, music

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Any piece of classical music with similar characteristics.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: broadly, countable, uncountable

Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, music

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian passacaglia, from Spanish pasacalle, from pasar (“to pass”) + calle (“street”).

Across languages

Translations

21 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: պասսակալիա (passakalia) — historical Spanish dance
  • Catalan: cercavila — historical Spanish dance
  • Chinese Mandarin: 帕薩卡利亞 /帕萨卡利亚 (pàsàkǎlìyà) — historical Spanish dance
  • Chinese Mandarin: 帕薩卡里亞 /帕萨卡里亚 (pàsàkǎlǐyà) — historical Spanish dance
  • Esperanto: pasakaljo — historical Spanish dance
  • Finnish: passacaglia — historical Spanish dance
  • French: passacaille — historical Spanish dance
  • German: Passacaglia — historical Spanish dance
  • Greek: πασσακάλια (passakália) — historical Spanish dance
  • Italian: passacaglia — historical Spanish dance
  • Japanese: パッサカリア (passakaria) — historical Spanish dance
  • Korean: 파사칼리아 (pasakallia) — historical Spanish dance
  • Latvian: pasakalja — historical Spanish dance
  • Romanian: passacaglia — historical Spanish dance
  • Russian: пассака́лья (passakálʹja) — historical Spanish dance
  • Russian: пассака́лия (passakálija) — historical Spanish dance
  • Spanish: pasacalle — historical Spanish dance
  • Spanish: pasacalles — historical Spanish dance
  • Tagalog: pasakalye — historical Spanish dance
  • Ukrainian: пасака́лія (pasakálija) — historical Spanish dance
  • Uzbek: passakalya — historical Spanish dance