cello

See also: Cello, çello, -cello, and 'cello

English

A cello.

Etymology 1

Clipping of violoncello, the original name, from Italian violoncello (“little violone”), from violone (“an early form of the double bass”) + -cello (“-elle”, forming diminutives), violone (“big viola”) itself being derived from viola + -one (“-oon”, forming augmentatives).

Alternative forms

• (dated) 'cello

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtʃɛləʊ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃɛloʊ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛləʊ

Noun

cello (plural cellos or (rare) celli)

1. A large unfretted stringed instrument of the violin family with four strings tuned (lowest to highest) C-G-D-A and an endpin to support its weight, usually played with a bow.
   • 2006 Nov. 22, Rob Paravonian, "Pachabel Rant", 00:00:33:

     I haven't always been this cool because I haven't always played guitar. I started out on the cello. Yeah, the cello is a wonderful, beautiful instrument. It's cool to be an adult that plays the cello. Being a kid that played the cello sucked, cause there's no way to be cool when your instrument is larger than you. When you walk to school with a cello you're like a wounded gazelle on the Serengeti, man. The bullies just smell you coming from a mile away.

   • 2020 Aug. 9, Jeffrey Meyers, "Fitzgerald and Hemingway: A Tortured Friendship", The Article:

     Fitzgerald saw that Hemingway, oppressed by his mother's influence, was "still rebelling against having been made to take cello lessons when growing up."

   Synonym: violoncello

Meronyms

parts of a cello

• back
• bout
  • upper bout
  • c-bout
  • lower bout
• bridge
• endpin, spike, tail spike
  • endpin stopper
• f-hole, sound hole
• fine tuner
• fingerboard
• front, top, belly, table
• neck
• purfling, edgework
• rib
  • upper rib
  • c-rib
  • lower rib
• saddle
• scroll
  • peg
  • pegbox
  • nut
• shoulder
• sound post
• string
• tailgut
• tailpiece
• waist

Derived terms

• cellist, celloist
• cellolike
• cello player
• electric cello
• guitar cello
• guitar-cello
• mandocello
• violoncello

 

Descendants

• → Tokelauan: helo

Translations

musical instrument

• Afrikaans: tjello
• Albanian: celo
• Amharic: ቫዮሊን (vayolin)
• Arabic: تْشِيلُّو (tšīllū)

  Hijazi Arabic: تْشِيلُّو m (tšēllu), تْشِلُّو m (tšillu)

• Armenian: թավջութակ (hy) (tʻavǰutʻak)
• Asturian: violonchelu m
• Azerbaijani: violonçel (az)
• Basque: txelo
• Bavarian: Violoncello
• Belarusian: віяланчэ́ль f (vijalančélʹ), віялянчэ́ль f (vijaljančélʹ)
• Bulgarian: виолонче́ло n (violončélo)
• Catalan: violoncel (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 大提琴 (daai⁶ tai⁴ kam⁴)

  Hokkien: 大提琴 (tōa-thê-khîm)

  Mandarin: 大提琴 (zh) (dàtíqín)

• Chuvash: виолончель (violonč̬elʹ)
• Corsican: viulunceddu
• Czech: violoncello n
• Danish: cello (da) c
• Dutch: cello (nl) m
• Esperanto: violonĉelo
• Estonian: tšello (et)
• Faroese: sello f
• Finnish: sello (fi)
• French: violoncelle (fr) m
• Galician: violoncello (gl) m, violonchelo (gl) m
• Georgian: ჩელო (čelo), ვიოლონჩელი (violončeli)
• German: Cello (de) n, Violoncello (de) n
• Greek: βιολοντσέλο (el) n (violontsélo), τσέλο (el) n (tsélo)
• Greenlandic: agiarsuaq
• Hebrew: צֶ׳לוֹ m (chelo)
• Hindi: सेलो (hi) (selo)
• Hungarian: cselló (hu), gordonka (hu)
• Icelandic: selló (is) n, knéfiðla (is) f
• Ido: violoncelo (io)
• Ilocano: tselo
• Indonesian: selo (id)
• Irish: dordveidhil f
• Italian: violoncello (it) m
• Japanese: チェロ (ja) (chero), ヴィオロンチェロ (vioronchero)
• Javanese: cello
• Kazakh: виолончель (violonçel)
• Korean: 첼로 (chello), 비올론첼로 (biollonchello)
• Kyrgyz: виолончель (ky) (violoncel)
• Latin: violoncellum
• Latvian: čells m
• Lithuanian: violončelė f
• Low German: violoncello

  Dutch Low Saxon: cello

• Luxembourgish: Cello
• Macedonian: виолончело n (violončelo)
• Malay: selo
• Malayalam: ചെല്ലോ (cellō)
• Marathi: चेलो m (celo)
• Mongolian: виолончель (violončelʹ), морин хийл (morin xiil)

  Mongolian: ᠸᠢᠦᠯᠦᠨᠼᠧᠯ (wiülüncēl)

• Norman: bâsse dé viole f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: cello (no) m

  Nynorsk: cello m

• Occitan: violoncèl
• Pashto: رالیږونکي
• Persian: ویولنسل (viyolonsel)
• Piedmontese: violonsel m
• Polish: wiolonczela (pl) f
• Portuguese: violoncelo (pt) m
• Quechua: chilu, chilu
• Romanian: violoncel (ro) n
• Russian: виолонче́ль (ru) f (violončélʹ)
• Saterland Frisian: Violoncello
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: виоло̀нчело m

  Roman: violònčelo (sh) m

• Slovak: violončelo n
• Slovene: čelo (sl) m, violončelo (sl) m
• Spanish: chelo (es) m, violonchelo (es) m
• Swahili: chelo
• Swedish: cello (sv) c
• Tagalog: biyolonselo, tselo
• Tajik: виолончел (violončel)
• Tamil: செலோ (celō)
• Telugu: సెల్లో (sellō)
• Thai: เชลโล (chen-lôo)
• Turkish: viyolonsel (tr), çello (tr)
• Turkmen: wiolonçel
• Ukrainian: віолонче́ль f (violončélʹ)
• Urdu: وائلن نما ساز (violen numa saaz)
• Uyghur: چوڭ ئىسكىروپكا (chong iskiropka)
• Uzbek: sello, violonchel (uz)
• Vietnamese: vi-ô-lông-xen, xe-lô
• Volapük: col (vo)
• Welsh: soddgrwth m, sielo
• West Frisian: sello
• Xhosa: icello
• Yiddish: טשעלאָ (tshelo)

References

• Robin Stowell (1999) The Cambridge Companion to the Cello, page 1

Etymology 2

Shortening of cellophane.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛləʊ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛloʊ/
• Rhymes: -ɛləʊ

Noun

cello (uncountable)

1. cellophane
   • 2011, Ava Carroll-Brown, Where Is Your Mother?:

     Chocolates arranged in a candy dish or basket, antique or purchased in accordance to^[sic] the personal taste of the host/hostess, wrapped with cello wrap and tied with a lovely ribbon—decadent!

Anagrams

• Colle

Basque

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃelo/ [t͡ʃe.lo]
• Rhymes: -elo
• Hyphenation: ce‧llo

Noun

cello inan

1. (proscribed) cello

   Synonym: biolontxelo

Declension

Declension of cello (inanimate, ending in vowel)

	indefinite	singular	plural
absolutive	cello	celloa	celloak
ergative	cellok	celloak	celloek
dative	cellori	celloari	celloei
genitive	celloren	celloaren	celloen
comitative	cellorekin	celloarekin	celloekin
causative	cellorengatik	celloarengatik	celloengatik
benefactive	cellorentzat	celloarentzat	celloentzat
instrumental	celloz	celloaz	celloez
inessive	cellotan	celloan	celloetan
locative	cellotako	celloko	celloetako
allative	cellotara	cellora	celloetara
terminative	cellotaraino	celloraino	celloetaraino
directive	cellotarantz	cellorantz	celloetarantz
destinative	cellotarako	cellorako	celloetarako
ablative	cellotatik	cellotik	celloetatik
partitive	cellorik	—	—
prolative	cellotzat	—	—

Further reading

• “cello”, in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy], Euskaltzaindia

Danish

Noun

cello c (singular definite celloen, plural indefinite celloer)

1. cello

Inflection

Declension of cello

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	cello	celloen	celloer	celloerne
genitive	cellos	celloens	celloers	celloernes

Synonyms

• violoncel c

Related terms

• cellist c

Dutch

Etymology

Shortening of violoncello, from Italian violoncello. Influenced by German Cello.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtʃɛ.loː/, /ˈsɛ.loː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: cel‧lo

Noun

cello m (plural cello's, diminutive cellootje n)

1. cello

Derived terms

• cellist

Descendants

• → Indonesian: selo
• → Papiamentu: chèlo

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Italian violoncello.

Noun

cello m (definite singular celloen, indefinite plural celloer, definite plural celloene)

1. cello

References

• “cello” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Italian violoncello.

Noun

cello m (definite singular celloen, indefinite plural celloar, definite plural celloane)

1. cello

References

• “cello” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Italian cello.

Noun

cello n (uncountable)

1. cello

Declension

declension of cello (singular only)

	singular
n gender	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) cello	celloul
genitive/dative	(unui) cello	celloului
vocative	celloule

Swedish

Noun

cello c

1. cello

Declension

Declension of cello
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	cello	cellon	cellor, celli	cellorna
Genitive	cellos	cellons	cellors, cellis	cellornas

Related terms

• cellist