From French étude 'study,' from Latin studium, elevated from practice exercise to concert piece by Chopin in the 1830s.
A short musical composition designed to develop a particular aspect of a performer's technique.
From French étude 'study,' from Old French estudie, from Latin studium 'eagerness, devotion to study.' Frédéric Chopin elevated the étude from a dry exercise into a concert piece with his Études Op. 10 (1833) and Op. 25 (1837), proving that technical practice could also be great art. Key
Chopin's Étude Op. 10 No. 12, the 'Revolutionary Étude,' was reportedly composed after he learned that Warsaw had fallen to the Russians in 1831—turning a technical exercise into one of the most emotionally charged pieces in the piano repertoire.