Musics

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The art or practice of combining vocal or instrumental sounds to produce a harmonious and expressive composition
2. A field encompassing various genres and styles characterized by melody, rhythm, and emotion
3. An area of creative expression that involves the organization of sounds to convey feelings and ideas in a structured manner

Etymology: The plural "musics" is a rarely used form of "music," and it exists mainly to name separate kinds of music rather than music in general. The singular already carries the story: it came into English from Latin "mūsica," which took it from Greek "mousikē," the art associated with the Muses, the nine goddesses of the arts in Greek myth. Their name, "Mousa," is the root, and the Greek adjective built from it meant something like "belonging to the Muses." The English word arrived in Middle English through Anglo-Norman and Old French, and it pushed aside the native Old English word "drēam," which once meant music. That older sense survives in the modern word "dream," a surprising reminder that the ancestor of "dream" was a word for joyful sound. The Old English "sweġl," another word for music, was also fully replaced.

Synonyms: melodies, harmonies, tunes, compositions, songs