different between hymn vs descant

English

Etymology

From Middle English ymne, borrowed from Old French ymne, from Latin hymnus, borrowed from Ancient Greek ????? (húmnos).

Pronunciation

• enPR: h?m, IPA^(key): /h?m/
• Rhymes: -?m
• Homophone: him

Noun

hymn (plural hymns)

1. A song of praise or worship, especially a religious one.

   • But when the moon rose and the breeze awakened, and the sedges stirred, and the cat’s-paws raced across the moonlit ponds, and the far surf off Wonder Head intoned the hymn of the four winds, the trinity, earth and sky and water, became one thunderous symphony—a harmony of sound and colour silvered to a monochrome by the moon.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

hymn (third-person singular simple present hymns, present participle hymning, simple past and past participle hymned)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To sing a hymn.
2. (transitive) To praise or extol in hymns.

   • To hymn the birth-night of the Lord.

See also

• theody

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /x?mn/

Noun

hymn m inan

1. anthem
2. hymn

Declension

Swedish

Noun

hymn c

1. hymn, anthem

Declension

English

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman descaunt, from Medieval Latin discantus.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?d?skænt/
• Rhymes: -ænt

Noun

descant (plural descants)

1. A lengthy discourse on a subject.
   • 1828, Thomas De Quincey, Elements of Rhetoric (published in Blackwood's Magazine)

     Upon that simplest of themes how magnificent a descant!

2. (music) A counterpoint melody sung or played above the theme

Verb

descant (third-person singular simple present descants, present participle descanting, simple past and past participle descanted)

1. (intransitive) To discuss at length.
2. (intransitive) To sing or play a descant.

Quotations

• 1919, Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, Duckworth, hardback edition, page 121

  Involving some interesting, intellectual trips, she was descanting lightly to right and left.

Anagrams

• dancest, decants, scanted, stanced