Staccato describes sounds that are short, sharp, and distinctly separated from each other, like quick little bursts with silence in between. In music, when notes are played staccato, each one is cut short rather than allowed to ring out smoothly. A pianist playing staccato lifts their fingers quickly off the keys after each note, creating a crisp, bouncing effect instead of a flowing melody.

You can hear staccato clearly in many classical pieces, where composers mark certain notes with dots above or below them to tell musicians to play them in this clipped, separated way.

Beyond music, we use staccato to describe any rhythm of short, separated sounds. A woodpecker's hammering on a tree trunk makes a staccato sound. Someone typing rapidly on a keyboard creates a staccato rhythm. When a nervous person speaks in quick, choppy bursts rather than smooth sentences, we might say they're speaking in staccato phrases.

The opposite of staccato is legato, which means smooth and connected. Think of staccato as popping bubbles one by one, while legato is like drawing one continuous line.