timbre

noun

1. Acoustics, Phonetics. the characteristic quality of a sound, independent of pitch and loudness, from which its source or manner of production can be inferred. Timbre depends on the relative strengths of the components of different frequencies, which are determined by resonance.
2. Music. the characteristic quality of sound produced by a particular instrument or voice; tone color.

noun

1. phonetics the distinctive tone quality differentiating one vowel or sonant from another
2. music tone colour or quality of sound, esp a specific type of tone colour

n.“characteristic quality of a musical sound,” 1849, from French timbre “quality of a sound,” earlier “sound of a bell,” from Old French, “bell without a clapper,” originally “drum,” probably via Medieval Greek *timbanon, from Greek tympanon “kettledrum” (see tympanum). Timbre was used in Old French (13c.) and Middle English (14c.) to render Latin tympanum in Ps. 150.