soft pedal

See also: soft-pedal

English

Etymology

The soft pedal of a piano is usually the leftmost foot-pedal.

From soft (“of sound: quiet”) +‎ pedal.[1]

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɒf(t) ˌpɛdl̩/
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɔf(t) ˌpɛdəl/, /ˈsɑf(t)-/
Hyphenation: soft ped‧al

Noun

soft pedal (plural soft pedals)

(music, also attributively) The leftmost foot-pedal on most pianos which, when pushed, dampens the strings and so softens the note played.
Synonym: una corda pedal

Coordinate terms: sostenuto pedal, sustain pedal

Derived terms

soft-pedal (verb)

Translations

leftmost foot-pedal on most pianos which softens the note played

Finnish: hiljennyspedaali
Macedonian: please add this translation if you can
Welsh: pedal chwith m

References

“soft pedal, n. and adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2022.; “soft pedal, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

soft pedal on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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