Meanings
plural claviatures
- A keyboard, especially of a musical instrument.
1883 Daniel Garrison Brinton (et al. ed.): Library of Aboriginal American Literature Over the mouth of each of them is drawn a thin piece of bladder, and over it, at the distance of a quarter of an inch, are flat pieces of a very hard wood, arranged like the claviature of a piano.
- The layout of keys on such a keyboard.
1 more example
1916 John Dunk: Hyperacoustics In the practice of music it becomes almost a necessity to agree upon some fixed system of interval measurement in order to clearly and economically define the notation, and the claviature of instruments. This confers an appearance of false simplicity upon tonal procedure, but it enables (in the same way as squared paper does with curves) the highly variable system of tonality to be represented in great generality with a limited number of fixed tones.
- Metaphorically, a repertoire or toolkit of concepts or resources for application to a field.
2015 Torben M. Andersen et al.: Reform Capacity and Macroeconomic Performance in the Nordic Countries. In the interest of overall macroeconomic efficiency, labour market reform must play several keys of the policy claviature
1 more example
2013 Albrecht Reichle: Evolution-adjusted Tumor Pathophysiology The emerging discipline permeates all medical levels, modelling of tumors, diagnostics, tumor monitoring, therapy and study design, thereby providing a whole claviature of novel therapeutic targets
Origin
- Latinclāvis“key”
- GermanKlaviatur
- Englishclaviature
From German Klaviatur, ultimately from Latin clāvis (“key”).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
claviature. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/claviature
“claviature.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/claviature. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “claviature,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/claviature.
Source: claviature on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.