HOW TO PRONOUNCE
timbre
/ˈtɪm.bɚ/
Press play to hear how to pronounce timbre.
American Pronunciation Guide · 0:49
Watch on YouTube ↗
Watch on YouTube ↗
LISTEN FOR THIS
TIM-ber: rhyme with “timber.”
The b is pronounced, and the ending is an unstressed er. The dictionary also gives TAM-ber; both pronunciations refer to the character of a sound.
TRY SAYING
“The cello added a warm timbre to the ensemble.”
APG practice sentence · CC BY-SA 4.0
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗What does timbre mean?
noun
- The quality of a sound independent of its pitch and volume.
- The pitch of a sound as heard by the ear, described relative to its absolute pitch.
- The crest on a (helmet atop a) coat of arms.
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
/ˈtɪm.bɚ/
Pronunciation used in the listening tip.
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.
In the pages of books
See this word in context.
“Et tout tremble, Irun, Coïmbre, Sautander, Almodovar, Sitôt qu’on entend le timbre Des cymbales do Bivar.”
Some of them have a richness and depth of timbre perhaps unequalled elsewhere.
More book examples (3)
The noonday heat of an August day that silences nearly every other voice, seems to give to the indigo bird's only fresh animation and timbre.
He clearly shows that the voice alters much under different conditions, in loudness and in quality, that is, in resonance and timbre, in pitch and intervals.
It is Beanquier, we think, who suggests that instrumental music should rank above vocal, because it is "pure music," bereft of the fictitious aids of language and of the emotional associations which are grouped about the peculiar timbre of the human voice.