impromptu

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Latin in prōmptū

French impromptuubor.

English impromptu

Unadapted borrowing from French impromptu.

Pronunciation

• enPR: ĭm-prŏmp′t(y)o͞o; IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpɹɒmp.t(j)u/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpɹɒmp.tju/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpɹɑmp.t(j)u/
• Hyphenation: im‧promp‧tu

Adjective

impromptu (not comparable)

1. Improvised; without prior preparation, planning, or rehearsal.

   Synonyms: extemporaneous, extempore, ad lib, unplanned; see also Thesaurus:impromptu

   an impromptu speech

   The party began with an impromptu rendition of “Happy Birthday”.

   • 2021 April 14, Rachel Trent, “City known as Hangtown votes to remove noose from its logo”, in CNN‎^[1], Atlanta, Ga.: Warner Bros. Discovery, archived from the original on 6 December 2022:

     The city of Placerville, California, also known as Hangtown, is losing the noose on its logo. […] After an impromptu citizens’ jury agreed to hang a man accused of a crime, the town became known as Hangtown. It took on the name Placerville in 1854.

   • 2026 March 29, Matt Mitchell, “In LA, Paul McCartney is king”, in AV Club‎^[2], archived from the original on 6 April 2026:

     I can appreciate that Macca’s band plays faithful to the source material, never putting too obvious a personal spin on the music. It’s sometimes frustrating, especially when the solo part in “Get Back” is screaming for some impromptu finesse, but it’s mostly fair.

Derived terms

• impromptuly (adverb) (nonstandard)

Translations

improvised; without prior preparation, planning or rehearsal — see also improvised,‎ unpremeditated

• Armenian: հանպատրաստից (hy) (hanpatrasticʻ)
• Azerbaijani: ekspromt
• Bulgarian: импровизиран (bg) (improviziran)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 即興（的） / 即兴（的） (zh), 臨場（的） / 临场（的） (zh)

• Finnish: improvisoitu (fi)
• French: impromptu (fr)
• Georgian: იმპროვიზებული (imṗrovizebuli), მოუმზადებელი (moumzadebeli)
• German: improvisiert (de)
• Greek: αυτοσχέδιος (el) m (aftoschédios), πρόχειρος (el) m (prócheiros)

  Ancient Greek: αὐτοσχέδιος (autoskhédios)

• Indonesian: impromptu
• Italian: improvvisato (it) m, improvvisata (it) f
• Japanese: 即席の (ja) (そくせきの, sokuseki no)
• Māori: tito, tene, hanga noa
• Persian: فی‌البداهه (fe-l-bedâhe)
• Polish: spontaniczny (pl) m, improwizowany m
• Portuguese: improvisado (pt)
• Russian: импровизи́рованный (ru) (improvizírovannyj), спонта́нный (ru) (spontánnyj), непроду́манный (ru) (neprodúmannyj), произво́льный (ru) (proizvólʹnyj), случа́йный (ru) (slučájnyj)
• Spanish: impromptu (es) (adverb)
• Swedish: improviserad (sv)
• Turkish: doğaçsı, doğaçlama (tr), hazırlıksız (tr)

Adverb

impromptu (not comparable)

1. Extemporaneously; without prior preparation, planning, or rehearsal.

   Synonyms: ex tempore, extempore, ad lib, cold

   happened impromptu

   was done impromptu

Noun

impromptu (plural impromptus)

1. (music) A short musical composition for an informal occasion often with the character of improvisation and usually to be played solo.
   • 1997, Christopher H. Gibbs, The Cambridge Companion to Schubert, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 168:

     The second impromptu is a dance-like Allegretto in A flat major, with a trio in D flat major employing arpeggiated textures.

2. (by extension) Any composition, musical or otherwise, that is created on the spot without preparation.

Translations

short composition

• Azerbaijani: ekspromt
• Dutch: impromptu (nl) m or n
• Finnish: improvisaatio (fi), impromptu (fi)
• German: Impromptu n
• Greek: αυτοσχεδιασμός (el) m (aftoschediasmós)
• Portuguese: improviso (pt) m
• Russian: экспро́мт (ru) m (eksprómt), импровиза́ция (ru) f (improvizácija)
• Spanish: impromptu (es) m
• Swedish: impromptu (sv) n
• Turkish: doğaç (tr)

any composition, musical or otherwise, that is created on the spot without preparation

• Bulgarian: импровизация f (improvizacija)
• French: impromptu (fr) m
• Spanish: impromptu (es) m

Verb

impromptu (third-person singular simple present impromptus, present participle impromptuing, simple past and past participle impromptued)

1. To compose offhand.

   Synonyms: extemporize, improvise

Further reading

• “impromptu”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

French

Etymology

Univerbation of the Latin adverbial locution in prōmptū (“ready, at hand”); see Latin in- for the n → m change.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.pʁɔ̃p.ty/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -y
• Hyphenation: im‧promp‧tu

Adjective

impromptu (feminine impromptue, masculine plural impromptus, feminine plural impromptues)

1. improvised, not planned

   une visite impromptue ― an unplanned visit

Noun

impromptu m (plural impromptus)

1. improvised action

   Synonym: improviste

   à l’impromptu (adverbial) ― spontaneously

   • 1868, Sainte-Beuve, Pensées:

     Talleyrand prévoyait à l'avance ses bons mots, que la circonstance lui tirait ensuite à l’impromptu.

     Talleyrand prepared his witticisms in advance, then deployed them spontaneously as the circumstances required.

2. (music) impromptu

   Synonyms: improvisation, impro

   • 1928, Du Bos, Journal:

     Quand je faisais mentalement des réserves sur Fauré, celles-ci portaient sur les Barcarolles, les Nocturnes et les Impromptus.

     When I had reservations in my mind about Fauré, they concerned his barcarolles, his nocturnes and his impromptus.

Further reading

• “impromptu”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Indonesian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French impromptu (“improvised, not planned; improvised action”).

Adjective

impromptu (comparative lebih impromptu, superlative paling impromptu)

1. improvised, extemporaneous, unplanned: without prior preparation, planning, or rehearsal

Further reading

• “impromptu”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French impromptu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /em.prompˈty/^**, /em.prompˈtu/^*
• Rhymes: -u
• Hyphenation: im‧promp‧tù

Noun

impromptu m (invariable)

1. (music) impromptu

   Synonym: improvviso

Further reading

• impromptu in sapere.it – De Agostini Editore
• “impromptu”, in Vocabolario Treccani on line (in Italian), Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 2026

Polish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Latin in prōmptū

French impromptuubor.

Polish impromptu

Unadapted borrowing from French impromptu. First attested in 1777.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛm.prɔmpˈti/
• Rhymes: -i
• Syllabification: im‧prom‧ptu

Adjective

impromptu (not comparable, indeclinable, no derived adverb)

1. impromptu (improvised; without prior preparation, planning, or rehearsal)

Adverb

impromptu (not comparable)

1. impromptu (extemporaneously; without prior preparation, planning, or rehearsal)

Noun

impromptu n (indeclinable)

1. (music) impromptu (a short musical composition for an informal occasion often with the character of improvisation and usually to be played solo)

   Hypernym: utwór

Further reading

• Modern Standard Polish:
  • “impromptu”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[3] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • “impromptu”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[4] (in Polish)
  • Zygmunt Saloni, et al., editors (2020), “impromptu”, in Słownik gramatyczny języka polskiego [Grammatical Dictionary of Polish]‎^[5], 4. online edition, Warszawa

Romanian

Etymology

Etymology tree

Latin in prōmptū

French impromptuubor.

Romanian impromptu

Unadapted borrowing from French impromptu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /im.prompˈty/
• Hyphenation: im‧promp‧tu

Noun

impromptu n (plural impromptuuri)

1. (music) impromptu

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	impromptu	impromptul	impromptuuri	impromptuurile
genitive-dative	impromptu	impromptului	impromptuuri	impromptuurilor
vocative	impromptule		impromptuurilor

Further reading

• “impromptu”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2026

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Latin in prōmptū

French impromptuubor.

Spanish impromptu

Unadapted borrowing from French impromptu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /empɾomˈti/ [ẽm.pɾõmˈt̪i]
  • Rhymes: -i
• IPA^(key): /empɾomˈtu/ [ẽm.pɾõmˈt̪u]
  • Rhymes: -u
• IPA^(key): /impɾomˈtu/ [ĩm.pɾõmˈt̪u]
  • Rhymes: -u
• Syllabification: im‧promp‧tu

Noun

impromptu m (plural impromptus)

1. (music) impromptu

Adverb

impromptu

1. synonym of in promptu

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Further reading

• “impromptu”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), 24th edition, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 30 October 2026
• Seco, Manuel; Andrés, Olimpia; Ramos, Gabino (2023), “impromptu”, in Diccionario del español actual [Dictionary of Current Spanish] (in Spanish), third digital edition, Fundación BBVA