American Heritage Dictionary Entry: chord HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARY To look up an entry in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, use the search window above. For best results, after typing in the word, click on the “Search” button instead of using the “enter” key. Some compound words (like bus rapid transit, dog whistle, or identity theft) don’t appear on the drop-down list when you type them in the search bar. For best results with compound words, place a quotation mark before the compound word in the search window. guide to the dictionary THE USAGE PANEL The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions. The Panelists NEED HELP SOLVING A CROSSWORD PUZZLE? Go to our Crossword Puzzle Solver and type in the letters that you know, and the Solver will produce a list of possible solutions. -- AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY APP The new American Heritage Dictionary app is now available for iOS and Android. THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY BLOG The articles in our blog examine new words, revised definitions, interesting images from the fifth edition, discussions of usage, and more. OPEN DICTIONARY PROJECT Share your ideas for new words and new meanings of old words! Start Sharing Now! -- See word lists from the best-selling 100 Words Series! Find out more! INTERESTED IN DICTIONARIES? Check out the Dictionary Society of North America at http://www.dictionarysociety.com chord 1 (kôrd) Share: Tweet n. 1. Music A combination of three or more pitches sounded simultaneously. 2. Harmony, as of color. v. chord·ed, chord·ing, chords v.intr. Music To play chords: She chorded up and down the neck of the guitar. v.tr. 1. To play chords on: chorded the piano. 2. To produce by playing musical chords; harmonize: chord a melody. [Alteration (influenced by chord, musical instrument string) of Middle English cord, from accord, agreement, from Old French acorde, from acorder, to agree; see ACCORD.] Usage Note: The words chord and cord are often confused—and with good reason, for they are really three words, not two. There are two words spelled chord (listed as separate entries with homograph numbers in this dictionary). The first comes from the word accord and refers to a harmonious combination of three or more musical notes. The second is an alteration of cord, taking its spelling from Greek chorda, "string, gut," by way of Latin. This is the mathematical chord—a line segment that joins two points on a curve. Cord itself means "a string or rope." It has many extensions, as in an electrical cord and a cord of wood. When referring to anatomical structures, it can be spelled in general usage either as cord or chord (again by influence of Greek and Latin). Strict medical usage requires cord, however. A doctor may examine a spinal cord or vocal cords, not chords. (click for a larger image)chord1 E major chord in opening bar of Edvard Grieg's Morgenstemning The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved. chord 2 (kôrd) Share: Tweet n. 1. A line segment that joins two points on a curve. See Usage Note at chord1. 2. A straight line connecting the leading and trailing edges of an airfoil. 3. Anatomy Variant of cord. 4. An emotional feeling or response: Her words struck a sympathetic chord in her audience. 5. Archaic The string of a musical instrument. [Alteration of CORD.] (click for a larger image)chord2 The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved. Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices: Indo-European Roots Semitic Roots The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots. 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