Plagal

//ˈpleɪɡəl// adj

adj ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Designating a mode lying a perfect fourth below the authentic form.

    "[…] [Carol] King uses the plagal coda as affirmation in “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman”, the 1967 anthem to liberated female sexuality that King co-wrote with [Gerry] Goffin for Aretha Franklin."

  2. 2
    Designating a cadence in which the subdominant chord precedes the tonic.

Example

More examples

"[…] [Carol] King uses the plagal coda as affirmation in “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman”, the 1967 anthem to liberated female sexuality that King co-wrote with [Gerry] Goffin for Aretha Franklin."

Etymology

From Late Latin plagalis, from plaga, from plagius, from Byzantine Ancient Greek πλάγιος (plágios, “plagal”), πλάγιος (plágios, “oblique”).

Related phrases

plagal cadenceperfect fourth

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.