clef
KLEF/klɛf/
Pluralclefs
- 1A symbol placed on a musical staff that fixes the pitch of the notes shown by its lines and spaces.
The pianist switched to the bass clef for the lower passage.
Beginning students often confuse the two most common clefs.
Note
Musicians read a staff with a key, quite literally: clef came through Middle French from Latin clāvis, "a key," and its doublets clave and clavis grow from the same root. Each clef works by pinning one line to a named pitch. The treble clef marks G, the bass clef marks F, and the C clef can move. A passage is written "in" a clef, and the plural is simply clefs.
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Origin
Borrowed from Middle French "clef", from Latin "clāvis" ("a key"). It is a doublet of "clave" and "clavis".