English

The symbol for a musical coda.

Noun

coda ‎(plural codas)

1. (music) A passage that brings a movement or piece to a conclusion through prolongation.
2. (linguistics) The optional final part of a syllable, placed after its nucleus, and usually composed of one or more consonants.

   The word salts has three consonants — /l/, /t/, and /s/ — in its coda, whereas the word glee has no coda at all.

3. (geology) In seismograms, the gradual return to baseline after a seismic event. The length of the coda can be used to estimate event magnitude, and the shape sometimes reveals details of subsurface structures.
4. (figuratively) A conclusion (of a statement or event, for example), final portion, tail end.
   • 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty, Bloomsbury, 2005, Chapter 9,

     Downstairs, a little later, in the drawing room, the coda of the party was unwinding, and Gerald opening new bottles of champagne as though he made no distinction between the boring drunks who "sat," and the knowing few of the inner circle, gathered round the empty marble fireplace.

   • 2014, Paul Salopek, Blessed. Cursed. Claimed., National Geographic (December 2014)

     In gray stormy light, their painted eyes stare out at the Mediterranean—at Homer’s wine-dark sea, at a corridor into modernity. But in memory my walk’s true coda in the Middle East came earlier.

5. Alternative spelling of CODA

Synonyms

• (end of a music piece): finale

See also

Aragonese

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin cōda, from Latin cauda.

Noun

coda f ‎(plural codi)

1. tail

French

Etymology

Borrowing from Italian coda. Doublet of queue.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ.da/

Noun

coda f ‎(plural codas)

1. (music) coda
2. (linguistics) a syllable coda

Verb

coda

1. third-person singular past historic of coder

Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈkɔd̪ˠə]

Noun

coda f

1. genitive singular of cuid

Mutation

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈkoda]

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin coda, variant of Latin cauda.

Noun

coda f ‎(plural code)

1. tail
2. queue; line

Derived terms

• coda di rospo

Related terms

• accodare / accodarsi
• codazzo
• codetta
• codina, codino
• codona, codone
• scodare
• scodinzolare

Anagrams

• cado

Latin

Etymology

Alternative form of cauda. For descendants, see there.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈkoː.da/

Noun

cōda f ‎(genitive cōdae); first declension

1. (Late Latin, Vulgar Latin) tail

Inflection

First declension.

Usage notes

Also found in some classical Latin texts alongside the primary form cauda, though uncommon.

References

• coda in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• coda in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• CODA in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “coda”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.

Swedish

Noun

coda c

1. (music) coda

Declension