Definition

1. Noun:
   • Timbre; tone colour: The quality or character of a sound that distinguishes it from other sounds of the same pitch and loudness. It is what makes a piano sound different from a violin playing the same note, or one person's voice sound different from another's.
   • Tone; sound quality: The characteristic sound of a particular musical instrument or voice, determined by the harmonics and overtones present.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • Giọng nói của cô ấy có âm sắc ấm áp. (Her voice has a warm timbre.)
  • Âm sắc của cây đàn piano này rất trong trẻo. (The tone colour of this piano is very clear.)
  • Mỗi nhạc cụ đều có một âm sắc riêng biệt. (Each musical instrument has its own distinct timbre.)

Advanced Usage

• In linguistics, particularly in the study of Vietnamese phonetics, "âm sắc" can refer to the tonal quality or specific pitch contour that distinguishes one tonal phoneme from another (e.g., the difference between the and tones). This is a more specialized usage.
  • Âm sắc là một yếu tố quan trọng để phân biệt các thanh điệu trong tiếng Việt. (Timbre/tone quality is an important factor for distinguishing tones in Vietnamese.)

Variants and Related Words

• Chất giọng (n): Voice quality or timbre of a voice.
  • Chất giọng khàn đặc trưng của anh ấy rất dễ nhận ra. (His characteristically husky voice quality is very recognizable.)

Synonyms

• Timbre: The character or quality of a musical sound or voice as distinct from its pitch and intensity.
• Tone colour: A synonym for timbre, emphasizing the "colour" or quality of sound.
• Sound quality: The characteristics of a sound that determine its uniqueness.

Related Concepts

• Âm thanh (n): Sound; the general term for anything that can be heard.
• Cường độ (n): Intensity or loudness of a sound.
• Cao độ (n): Pitch of a sound.

noun

1. timbre; tone-colour