Etymology

capo

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Today it means: A movable bar placed across the fingerboard of a guitar and used to raise the pitch of all strings. Full definition →

Italian capo ← Vulgar Latin capus ← Latin caput
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capo · noun1

Shortening of capotasto, from Italian.

capo · noun2

  1. Proto-Indo-European*kap-?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*kap-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*káput
  4. Proto-Italic*kaput
  5. Latincaput
  6. Vulgar Latincapus
  7. Italiancapo
  8. English todaycapo

Borrowed from Italian capo (“head, chief”). Doublet of cape, caput, chef, chief, head, and Howth.

Words from the same roots

Italiancapo all →

camouflage

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.