harmonic

See also: harmònic

English

Alternative forms

• harmonick (obsolete)

Etymology

From Latin harmonicus, from Ancient Greek ἁρμονικός (harmonikós), from ἁρμονία (harmonía, “harmony”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hɑː(ɹ)ˈmɒnɪk/

  • Audio (Southern England):

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• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -ɒnɪk

Adjective

harmonic (comparative more harmonic, superlative most harmonic)

1. Pertaining to harmony.
2. Pleasant to hear; harmonious; melodious.
   • 1728, [Alexander Pope], “(please specify the page)”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin, London: […] A. Dodd, →OCLC:

     harmonic twang of leather, horn, and brass.

3. (mathematics) Used to characterize various mathematical entities or relationships supposed to bear some resemblance to musical consonance.

   The harmonic polar line of an inflection point of a cubic curve is the component of the polar conic other than the tangent line.

4. Recurring periodically.
5. (phonology) Exhibiting or applying constraints on what vowels (e.g. front/back vowels only) may be found near each other and sometimes in the entire word.
6. (Australianist linguistics) Of or relating to a generation an even number of generations distant from a particular person.
   • 1966, Kenneth Hale, Kinship Reflections in Syntax: Some Australian languages:

     A person is harmonic with respect to members of his own generation and with respect to members of all even-numbered generations counting away from his own (e.g., his grandparents' generation, his grandchildren's generation, etc.).

Derived terms

• abstract harmonic analysis
• anharmonic
• antiharmonic
• arithmetico-harmonic
• biharmonic
• disharmonic
• enharmonic
• euharmonic
• false harmonic
• harmonic addition theorem
• harmonically
• harmonic analysis
• harmonic analyzer
• harmonic balancer
• harmonic bounding
• harmonic brick
• harmonic conjugate
• harmonic conjugate function
• harmonic coordinates
• harmonic decomposition
• harmonic division
• harmonic divisor number
• harmonic engine
• harmonic equation
• harmonic expansion
• harmonic form
• harmonic function
• harmonic-geometric mean
• harmonic homology
• harmonicism
• harmonicity
• harmonic logarithm
• harmonic map
• harmonic mean
• harmonic mean index
• harmonic minor scale
• harmonic motion
• harmonic number
• harmonic oscillator
• harmonic parameter
• harmonic progression
• harmonic proportion
• harmonic quadrilateral
• harmonic range
• harmonic ratio
• harmonic segment
• harmonic series
• harmonic series of primes
• harmonic system of points
• harmonic tremor
• inharmonic
• monoharmonic
• multiharmonic
• natural harmonic
• nonharmonic
• non-harmonic tone
• pluriharmonic
• polyharmonic
• pseudoharmonic
• quasiharmonic
• second-harmonic generation
• semi-harmonic
• simple harmonic motion
• simple harmonic oscillator
• subharmonic
• superharmonic
• telharmonic
• triharmonic
• ultraharmonic
• unharmonic
• xenharmonic

 

Related terms

• harmonica
• philharmonic

Translations

pertaining to harmony

• Bulgarian: хармоничен (bg) (harmoničen)
• Catalan: harmònic
• Czech: harmonický (cs) m
• Dutch: harmonisch (nl)
• Finnish: harmoninen (fi)
• French: harmonique (fr)
• Galician: harmónico m
• German: harmonisch (de)
• Greek: αρμονικός (el) (armonikós)

  Ancient Greek: ἁρμονικός (harmonikós)

• Irish: armónach m
• Italian: armonico (it)
• Kazakh: гармоникалық (garmonikalyq), үйлесімді (üilesımdı)
• Portuguese: harmônico (pt) m, harmónico (pt)
• Russian: гармони́ческий (ru) (garmoníčeskij)
• Spanish: armónico (es)
• Swedish: harmonisk (sv)
• Turkish: armonik (tr)
• Welsh: harmonig

pleasant to hear — see also harmonious

• Bulgarian: хармоничен (bg) (harmoničen), мелодичен (bg) (melodičen)
• Czech: harmonický (cs) m, melodický (cs) m, libozvučný (cs) m
• Dutch: harmonisch (nl)
• Finnish: harmoninen (fi)
• French: harmonieux (fr), harmonique (fr), mélodieux (fr), mélodique (fr)
• German: harmonisch (de)
• Greek: αρμονικός (el) (armonikós)

  Ancient Greek: ἁρμονικός (harmonikós)

• Italian: armonico (it)
• Kazakh: үйлесімді (üilesımdı)
• Portuguese: harmonioso (pt) m
• Russian: гармони́чный (ru) (garmoníčnyj)
• Spanish: armónico (es)
• Swedish: harmonisk (sv)

mathematical attribute of mathematical entities

• Czech: harmonický (cs) m
• Finnish: harmoninen (fi)
• French: harmonique (fr)
• Greek: αρμονικός (el) (armonikós)
• Italian: armonico (it)

phonology: exhibiting or applying vowel constraints in a word

• Hungarian: magánhangzó-harmónia terén illeszkedő

Noun

harmonic (plural harmonics)

1. (physics) A component frequency of the signal of a wave that is an integer multiple of the fundamental frequency.
3. (music) The place where, on a bowed string instrument, a note in the harmonic series of a particular string can be played without the fundamental present.
4. (mathematics) One of a class of functions that enter into the development of the potential of a nearly spherical mass due to its attraction.
5. (CB radio slang) One's child.
   • 1967, CQ: the Radio Amateur's Journal, volume 23, numbers 7-12, page 140:

     Games for the harmonics, (children), YL's and XYL's and the OM's, plus free soda for all.

   • 1988, Amateur Radio, volume 44, numbers 1-6, page 38:

     The harmonics (kids, I mean) sometimes failed to recognize me on the rare occasions when I emerged from the shack […]

Translations

a component frequency of the signal of a wave — see also overtone

• Bulgarian: хармонична (bg) f (harmonična)
• Czech: harmonická f
• Dutch: harmonische (nl) c
• Maori: hawarite
• Russian: гармо́ника (ru) (garmónika)
• Thai: ฮาร์มอนิก, ทวีคูณความถี่

Anagrams

• choirman, chromian, omniarch, rahmonic