CEMBALO or CIMBALO, the Italian names for a dulcimer (cf. cymbal) ; whence, in due course, clavicembalo for a piano forte, otherwise a keyed dulcimer. Hence, too, the frequent use of "cembalo" in earlier days in the case of pianoforte music, the word as used in such cases being merely a contraction of "clavi cembalo." (See DULCIMER.)