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coda

KOH-duh · noun

LatinItalianEnglish

Origin

Coda comes from Italian coda, meaning "tail," which traces back to Latin cauda.

Journey

The word entered English through Italian musical terminology, keeping its literal sense of "tail" to describe the closing passage that trails after a piece's main structure.

Related words

Coda is a doublet of queue and cola — all three descend from the same Latin root, cauda, having reached English by different routes.

More words

From Italian

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