# clef

Pronunciation: say "KLEF" /klɛf/

## Noun

1. A symbol placed on a musical staff that fixes the pitch of the notes shown by its lines and spaces.
   - Simple: A sign at the start of a line of music that shows how high or low the notes are.
   - _The pianist switched to the bass clef for the lower passage._
   - _Beginning students often confuse the two most common clefs._

## Origin

Borrowed from Middle French "clef", from Latin "clāvis" ("a key"). It is a doublet of "clave" and "clavis".

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/clef (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).