An Italian musical term meaning 'more', used in sheet music to indicate that the following passage should be played with greater intensity, speed, or emphasis.
From Italian 'più' (more), directly borrowed into English musical notation. Italian became the standard language for classical music terminology during the Renaissance.
Classical music is filled with Italian words like 'piu', 'forte', and 'adagio' because Italy was the center of musical innovation during the Renaissance—composers just kept the original Italian names for everything.
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