pentatonic scale [pen-tuh-ton-ik, pen-] Word Origin noun Music.
- a scale having five tones to an octave, as one having intervals that correspond to the five black keys of a piano octave.
Origin of pentatonic scale First recorded in 1860–65; penta- + tonic British Dictionary definitions for pentatonic scale pentatonic scale noun
- music any of several scales consisting of five notes, the most commonly encountered one being composed of the first, second, third, fifth, and sixth degrees of the major diatonic scale