Etymology

ritardando

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Today it means: Gradually decelerating the tempo of a piece of music, especially at the end of the piece. Full definition →

Italian ritardando
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The story

  1. Italian · derived fromritardando
  2. English todayritardando

Borrowed from Italian ritardando, gerund of ritardare (“to delay, to slow down”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.