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], 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

   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
• 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 Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

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), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025
• Seco, Manuel; Andrés, Olimpia; Ramos, Gabino (2023), “impromptu”, in Diccionario del español actual [Dictionary of Current Spanish] (in Spanish), third digital edition, Fundación BBVA