Tune

Tune

Noun & Verb · /tjuːn/ · a melody; to adjust an instrument or system to the correct pitch or frequency

Definition

As a noun, a tune is a melody — a sequence of musical notes arranged in a recognisable, pleasing pattern. As a verb, to tune means to adjust a musical instrument so it produces the correct pitch, or more broadly to adjust any system — an engine, a radio, a database — to its optimal state. In tune means correctly pitched or in harmony; out of tune means the opposite. To tune in means to listen or pay attention; to tune out means to stop listening or ignore.

Origin

Tune is an alteration of tone, from Old French ton and Latin tonus, which in turn comes from Greek tonos — meaning a stretching of the voice, a string, or a cord. The modern English spelling tune with a u appeared in the fifteenth century, diverging from tone, which retained its Latin vowel. The musical meaning came first; the technical sense of adjusting to optimal frequency developed naturally from it.