Mezzo Forte (mf.) – Literally "half" loud; moderately loud

(Pronounced met-soh for-tay)

We can remember this if we deal with each word separately.

Mezzo – Half

(Pronounced met-soh)

To remember what mezzo forte means, use the following mnemonic:

They met to sew (mezzo) exactly half way between their houses.

Note: Mezzo is the Italian word for "half", "middle" or "medium".

Now we can learn forte

Forte – Loud

(Pronounced for-tay)

Note: forte is usually shown on music lines as #forte

The battle at the fort was a (forte) loud one. The fort had a large #forte above the drawbridge.

Now we can put definitions of mezzo and forte together as:

Mezzo = half  forte = loud

Mezzo forte = half loud

Examples of mezzo forte in a sentence

At this stage in his career, the more mature singer could only attain mezzo forte - much louder pieces were now out of the question.

Some pieces of music lose their subtlety if sung too loudly; such musical compositions are more suited to mezzo forte.

The movement was played as mezzo forte, but it should have been at least twice as loud to bring out the intended battling spirit.