Tempo

Etymology

Italian "tempo" (time), from Latin "tempus" (time). Music absorbed a body of Italian vocabulary in the 17th and 18th centuries, and this was the word chosen for the rate of the beat.

noun · /TEM-poh/
The speed at which a piece of music is played.
What it names
It gives a precise word for pace as its own dial — the same notes and rhythms feel restless or serene depending on it — and the term now travels into talk of a film’s or a meeting’s tempo.
Example
The conductor took the finale at a breakneck tempo that left the strings scrambling.
Related idea
Tempo is the overall speed; cadence, in its rhythmic sense, is the recurring beat or flow within that speed. A march can quicken its tempo while keeping the same steady cadence.