Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definitions: Harmonic |
HarmonicAdjective1. Of or relating to harmony as distinct from melody and rhythm; "subtleties of harmonic change and tonality"- Ralph Hill. 2. Of or relating to the branch of acoustics that studies the composition of musical sounds; "the sound of the resonating cavity cannot be the only determinant of the harmonic response". 3. Relating to vibrations that occur as a result of vibrations in a nearby body; "sympathetic vibration". 4. Involving or characterized by harmony. Noun1. A tone that is a component of a complex sound. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "harmonic" was first used: 15th century. (references) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Aerospace | 1. An integral multiple or submultiple of a given frequency; a sinusoidal component of a periodic wave.2. A signal having a frequency which is a harmonic (sense 1) of the fundamental frequency. (references) |
Electrical Engineering | The component of order greater than 1 of the Fourier series of a periodic quantity. Source: European Union. (references) |
Mining | A sinusoidal quantity having a frequency that is an integral multiple ofthe frequency of a periodic quantity to which it is related. (references) |
Post & Telecom | A sinusoidal component of a complex sound wave whose frequency is an integral multiple of the frequency of the fundamental. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
In musical terms, harmonics are component pitches of a harmonic tone which sound at whole number multiples above, or "within", the named note being played on a musical instrument. Non-whole number multiples are called partials or inharmonic overtones. It is the amplitude and placement of harmonics and partials which give different instruments different timbre (despite not usually being detected separately by the untrained human ear), and the separate trajectories of the overtones of two instruments playing in unison is what allows one to perceive them as separate. Bells have more clearly perceptible partials than most instruments.
The name of the note played is the fundamental frequency or the first harmonic, the second harmonic is twice the fundamental frequency, the third harmonic is thrice the fundamental frequency, and so on. This series is called the harmonic series. For instance, when one plays an A440Hz, "A" refers to the fundamental or first harmonic, but this sound also contains the second harmonic, 880Hz, the third, 1320Hz, and so on, at varying amplitudes.
In many musical instruments, it is possible to play the upper harmonics without the fundamental note being present. In a simple case (e.g.recorder) this has the effect of making the note go up in pitch by an octave; but in more complex cases many other pitch variations are obtained. In some cases it also changes the timbre of the note. This is part of the normal method of obtaining higher notes in wind instruments, where it is called overblowing. On string instruments it is often used to produce very pure sounding notes which have an eerie quality, as well as being high in pitch.
The fundamental frequency is the reciprocal of the period of the periodic phenomenon.
Contrast with: fundamental, overtone, inharmonic. See also: harmonic series (music)
This article incorporates material from Federal Standard 1037C
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Harmonic."
Synonyms: HarmonicSynonyms: consonant (adj), harmonical (adj), harmonised (adj), harmonized (adj), in harmony (adj), sympathetic (adj). (additional references) |
| Antonym: nonharmonic (adj). (additional references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Listen, looking at it very simply musicology and ethnically, the Rutles were essentially Imperical maleonglece of a rhythmically radical yet verbally passé and temporally transcended lyrically content welded with historically innovative melodical material transposed and transmogrified by the ankus of the Rutland ethic experience which elevated them from essentially alpha exponents of in essence merely beta potential harmonic material into the prime cultural exponents of Aloin condensic comic standard form (The Rutles; writing credit: Eric Idle) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Harmonic Distortion (2002) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
References | |||
Books |
| ||
Music |
| ||
High Tech |
| ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | "Spherical Harmonic YSpherical Harmonics. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Play | Caption | Play | Caption |
 | Peaceful and harmonic synthesized string chords with flute melody. | | Minor piece using standard harmonic cadences with synthesizer circa mid-1980's. |
| A Kansas City swing style piece using the blues as a harmonic and melodic base. | | A high harmonic note artificially created by a synthesizer. |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| "Harmonic" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 98.37% of the time. "Harmonic" is used about 306 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 98.37% | 301 | 16,714 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.98% | 3 | 202,518 |
| Noun (singular) | 0.65% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Total | 100.00% | 306 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Country | Name | Country | Name |
| Japan | Harmonic Drive Systems Inc. | USA | Harmonic Incorporated |
| (more examples...) |
Source: compiled by the editor from Icon Group International, Inc.
Expressions using "harmonic": first harmonic ♦ harmonic analysis ♦ harmonic antenna ♦ harmonic component ♦ harmonic content ♦ Harmonic interval ♦ harmonic law ♦ harmonic mean ♦ harmonic motion ♦ harmonic of a periodic quantity ♦ harmonic progression ♦ Harmonic proportion ♦ Harmonic series ♦ harmonic series of sounds ♦ Harmonic suture ♦ Harmonic triad ♦ nth order harmonic distortion ♦ simple harmonic motion ♦ spherical harmonic analysis ♦ total harmonic distortion. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "harmonic": harmonic-generation. | |
Ending with "harmonic": sub-harmonic. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
harmonic balancer | 150 |
harmonic | 68 |
harmonic motion simple | 39 |
harmonic filter | 30 |
harmonic drive | 23 |
harmonic technology | 19 |
harmonic scalpel | 19 |
concordance harmonic | 16 |
harmonic convergence | 15 |
harmonic minor scale | 14 |
design harmonic | 13 |
harmonic mean | 13 |
harmonic inc | 12 |
harmonic distortion | 12 |
harmonic series | 8 |
harmonic motion | 8 |
harmonic lightwaves | 7 |
harmonic pinch | 6 |
harmonic lightwave | 6 |
harmonic scale | 6 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "harmonic"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | harmonikë (harmonica, mouth organ), harmonik (balanced, consonant), notë (diplomatic note, grade, guide mark, key, Mark, memorandum, music, musical note, note, overtone, rate, rating, ratio), muzikor (musical). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | موسيقي (musical, musician, semiquaver), متناسق (consistent, coordinated, methodical, regular, symmetric, symmetrical, systematic), متآلف (harmonious, united), نغم متوافق. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | съгласуван (accordant, agreed, coherent, concerted, consentient, pursuant), съзвучен (symphonious), хармонична функция, хармоничен (concordant, harmonious, integrated, symphonious, tuneful), обертон (overtone). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 泛音 (harmonics). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | harmonický (harmonious). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | harmoniske komposanter (harmonic component), harmonisk svingning (harmonic component), harmonisk komponent (harmonic component), harmonisk deltone (harmonic of a periodic quantity, overtone), harmonisk (harmonious). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | harmonische componente (harmonic component), harmonische (harmonic component, harmonic of a periodic quantity, overtone), harmonisch (harmonious), harmonie (harmonic of a periodic quantity, harmony, overtone). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | harmoninen värähtely (harmonic component), harmoninen (harmonic of a periodic quantity, harmonic tones, harmonious, overtone), ylivärähtely (harmonic component). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | harmonique (harmonic component, harmonic of a periodic quantity). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | harmonisch (according, harmonic(al), harmonious, harmoniously). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | εναρμόνιοσ (symphonious), αρμονικόσ (concordant, congruous, consonant, harmonious, symphonic, symphonious), αρμονικός (harmonious), αρμονικές συνιστώσες (harmonic component), αρμονική συνιστώσα (harmonic component), αρμονική (harmonic component, harmonic of a periodic quantity, overtone). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | "רמו י (symphonic), צליל עלי (overtone, upper tone), צליל "רמו י. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | harmonikus (harmonious), felhang (overtone), összehangzó (harmonious). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | akord (harmonic chords). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | armonico (balanced, full falvour, full taste, harmonious). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 倍音 (overtone). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | ばいお" (overtone). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 조"되" (harmonious). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | bingyssagh (clangorous, sounding, tunable, yielding music). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | armonichay harmonioso (accordant, canorous, concordant, conformable, consonant, euphonious, flowing, harmonious, melodist, numerous, orpin, regular, sweet, tunable, tuneful, tuny, United), harmónica (harmonic of a periodic quantity, overtone), são e salvo (safe, scatheless, unharmed, unhurt, uninjured), componente harmónica (harmonic component). (various references) armonic (harmonious, symmetric, symmetrical). (various references) стройный (clean-limbed, gent, jimp, shapely, slender, svelte, willowy), гармоничный (balanced, concordant, harmonious, spheral, tuneful), гармонический (well balanced), гармоника (accordion, harmonica, jew's harp), обертон (overtone). (various references) harmonik, harmoničan (harmonious, tuneful), skladan (concordant, harmonious, lightsome, suitable, tunable). (various references) armónico (harmonic component, harmonic of a periodic quantity, harmonious, overtone, robust). (various references) harmonisk överton (harmonic component, harmonic resonance, harmonics, resonance), harmonisk (consonant, harmonious). (various references) harmonik ses, harmonik, uyumlu (accommodating, canorous, coherent, compatible, concordant, conformable, congenial, congruent, congruous, consentient, consequent, consonant, deferent, deferential, elastic, eurhythmic, harmonious, melodious, responsive, rhythmic, supple, symphonious, tuneful, unisonous, well-matched), armonik, akım armonikleri, ahenkli (cadenced, canorous, coherent, concordant, congruent, congruous, consonant, euphonic, euphonious, harmonious, homophonic, in accord, in order, melodic, melodious, symphonious, tuneful). (various references) гармонія (accord, accordance, cadence, chord, concord, consonance, harmonica, harmony, rhythm, unison), гармонійний (according, balanced, conceptual, harmonious, tuneful), обертон (overtone), мелодійний (ariose, fluted, fluty, harmonious, melodic, melodious, musical, orphean, sweet), злагоджений. (various references) h i ho (cosmic, harmonious). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Greek | 700 BCE-300 CE | harmonikos. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "harmonic": harmonica, harmonically, harmonicas, harmonicist, harmonicists, harmonics. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "harmonic": enharmonic, inharmonic, nonharmonic, philharmonic. (additional references) | |
Words containing "harmonic": enharmonically, philharmonics. (additional references) | |
| |
"Harmonic" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: ahmovic, armonic, armonico, harmonci, harmone, harmones, harmoni, harmonia, harmoniis, Harmonys, hasmonean, Hermanek, Hermodice. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "harmonic" (pronounced hÄrmÄ"nik) |
| 6 | -r m Ä" n i k | philharmonic. |
| 5 | -m Ä" n i k | demonic, gnomonic, hegemonic, mnemonic, pneumonic. |
| 4 | -Ä" n i k | allophonic, avionic, bubonic, catatonic, chronic, conic, diatonic, electronic, embryonic, ganglionic, hedonic, histrionic, hydroponic, hypersonic, hypertonic, ionic, ironic, isoelectronic, isotonic, laconic, leptonic, masonic, microelectronic, monophonic, nucleonic, ovonic, pharaonic, phonic, planktonic, platonic, plutonic, polyphonic, sardonic, sonic, supersonic, symphonic, synchronic, tectonic, telephonic, tonic, ultrasonic. |
| 3 | -n i k | arsenic, beatnik, botanic, calisthenic, carcinogenic, clinic, cynic, Dominick, ethnic, eugenic, galvanic, germanic, hallucinogenic, inorganic, kibbutznik, manic, mechanic, messianic, monoclinic, multiethnic, neotenic, oceanic, organic, orogenic, panic, pathogenic, photogenic, polytechnic, psychogenic, pyrotechnic, refusenik, satanic, scenic, schizophrenic, splenic, Sputnik, technic, telegenic, Titanic, transgenic, transoceanic, tunic, tympanic, volcanic. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: omniarch. | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-h-i-m-n-o-r" | |
-1 letter: minorca, monarch, nomarch. | |
-2 letters: anchor, anomic, archon, camion, chimar, chroma, harmin, inarch, macron, manioc, micron, mohair, rancho. | |
-3 letters: acorn, amino, amnic, amnio, cairn, carom, chain, chair, charm, chiao, china, chino, chirm, chiro, choir, coria, ichor, ihram, inarm, macho, macon, macro, manic, manor, march, micra, micro, minor, mocha, moira, nacho, narco, naric, noria, ohmic, orach, orcin, racon, ranch, rhino, roach, roman. | |
-4 letters: airn, amin, amir, arch, arco, cain, carn, cham, chao, char, chia, chin, chon, ciao, cion, coin, coir, coma, coni, corm, corn, cram, hair, harm, hoar, hora, horn, icon, inch, inro, iron, mach, main, mair, mano, marc, mica, mina, moan, mora, morn, naoi, narc, noir, noma, nori, norm, ohia, orca, rain, rami, rani, rich, roam, roan. | |
-5 letters: aim, ain, air, ami, ani, arc, arm, cam, can, car, chi, con, cor, ham, hao, hic, him, hin, hon, ich, ion, mac, man, mar, mho, mir, moa, moc, mon, mor, nah, nam, nim, noh, nom, nor, oar, oca, ohm, ora, orc, rah, ram, ran, rho, ria, rim, rin, roc, rom. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-h-i-m-n-o-r" | |
+1 letter: chromatin, harmonica, harmonics, monarchic, omniarchs. | |
+2 letters: anamorphic, chairwoman, chairwomen, chiromancy, chloramine, chromaffin, chromatins, cochairman, cochairmen, enharmonic, harmonicas, inharmonic, machinator, maraschino, monarchial, monarchies, monarchism, monarchist, morphactin, nomarchies. | |
+3 letters: amenorrheic, anachronism, archegonium, chiromancer, chloramines, chrismation, chromatinic, chrominance, euchromatin, harmonicist, machinators, maraschinos, marchioness, monarchical, monarchisms, monarchists, monographic, morphactins, nomographic, nonharmonic, outcharming, outmarching, phonogramic, trichomonad, trichomonal. | |
+4 letters: actinomorphy, anachronisms, asynchronism, camphorating, chiromancers, chiromancies, chrismations, chrominances, cochairwoman, cochairwomen, euchromatins, harmonically, harmonicists, hydrodynamic, hydromancies, misanthropic, mitochondria, overmatching, panchromatic, philharmonic, phonogrammic, trichomonads. | |
+5 letters: achromatizing, actinomorphic, aeromechanics, asynchronisms, cholangiogram, chromonematic, cinematograph, commandership, hydrodynamics, hydromagnetic, hyperromantic, marchionesses, micrographing, mitochondrial, monarchically, monochromatic, neurochemical, philharmonics, rhabdomancies, thermodynamic. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)48 61 72 6D 6F 6E 69 63 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
|
| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
|
| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
|
| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
|
Morse Code (1836) (references).... .- .-. -- --- -. .. -.-. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
|
Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01001000 01100001 01110010 01101101 01101111 01101110 01101001 01100011 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)H a r m o n i c |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0048 0061 0072 006D 006F 006E 0069 0063 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
|
Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)4267847981807569 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Sounds | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Names: Company Usage 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Translations: Ancient 15. Derivations 16. Rhymes | 17. Anagrams 18. Orthography 19. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
