A small, rectangular keyboard instrument producing a soft sound by means of metal blades attached to the ends of key levers that gently press the strings, popular from the early 15th to early 19th centuries.
More example sentences
- Mozart's lifetime witnessed the coexistence of four kinds of keyboard instrument: the harpsichord, the clavichord, the fortepiano, and the organ.
- New instruments that appeared during the early Renaissance, in the second half of the 15th century, included the harpsichord, the clavichord, and the viol and violin families.
- In parallel with this I plan to visit museums where there are early keyboard instruments, either harpsichords or clavichords.
late Middle English: from medieval Latin clavichordium, from Latin clavis 'key' + chorda 'string'.
Definition of clavichord in:
- The British & World English dictionary