Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
fa la

fa la

3 9.9
A short series of simple syllables sung as a refrain
  • noun
translation icon : fa la
  • ♪ Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Examples

Synonyms

fal la
vsfa la
9.9

A short part of a song made of nonsense syllables sung between lines

is the same meaning but written differently in form or spacing
tra-la-la
vsfa la
  • Informal
9.9

Small nonsense sounds people sing or hum instead of words

is mainly used as a meaningless partsong refrain rather than general singing
tra-la
vsfa la
  • Informal
9.9

A short cheerful sound that uses silly syllables

focuses on partsong refrains and is more specific than cheerful general use

Surface Forms

fa la singular
fa las plural

Morphology

fa + la

Both constituents 'fa' and 'la' are identifiable solfège syllables, so a learner who knows them can infer this phrase refers to musical, nons lexical syllables used in a refrain. The usage as meaningless vocalizing in songs is a straightforward compositional interpretation and is cross-linguistically paralleled (e.g. 'fa-la-la', 'tra-la'), making it immediately comprehensible to B1 learners.

Etymology

Fa la comes from old songs called madrigals, where singers often used short, happy sounds like fa and la as a simple 'refrain' or filler between real words. That's why fa la now means a group of short syllables with no real words, used for musical 'filler'.