Mordente

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A musical ornament involving a rapid alternation between a specific note and the note immediately below it in pitch
2. A decorative musical technique that typically serves to enhance the expressiveness of a melody
3. This embellishment in music adds a flourish by quickly sounding a principal tone and its lower neighbor in succession

Etymology: Italian "mordente" comes from the present participle of Latin "mordēre," "to bite," so the musical term is literally "biting" or "biting-in." The ornament gets its name from the way the note seems to bite into the melody, the rapid flicker of the main note with the note just below it snapping against it like a small nip. The English word was borrowed directly from Italian, so it carries the Italian spelling and the musical sense intact. Its Latin ancestor "mordēre" also gave English words such as "mordant," used for a substance that bites into metal in etching, and "remorse," which literally means a gnawing back.