Etymology

ossia

O1S1S1I1A1

Today it means: In a musical score, an alternative version of a passage, usually just a few measures long. The alternative may be an easier version of a particularly difficult passage, or a more difficult version of a passage. Full definition →

Italian ossia
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The story

  1. Italian · borrowed fromossia“or rather”
  2. English todayossia

From Italian ossia (“or rather”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.