Skip to content
Vinony

zither

noun

  1. class of musical stringed instruments
L311643 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈzɪ.ðə/ / /ˈzɪ.ðɚ/

noun

Etymology: Borrowed from German Zither, from Old High German zithara, from Latin cithara, from Ancient Greek κιθάρα (kithára, “a kind of harp”). Doublet of cithara, cither, and guitar.

  1. A musical instrument consisting of a flat sounding box with numerous strings placed on a horizontal surface, played with a plectrum or fingertips.
  2. Related or similar instruments in other cultures, such as the Chinese guqin or Norwegian harpeleik; especially any chordophone without a neck, and with strings that pass over the body.

verb

Etymology: Borrowed from German Zither, from Old High German zithara, from Latin cithara, from Ancient Greek κιθάρα (kithára, “a kind of harp”). Doublet of cithara, cither, and guitar.

  1. To play a zither.

    “[…] the fluting began again. Not alone this time, but, to Rosalie’s infinite surprise, accompanied on a zither. […] At this moment the fluting and zithering began again.”

    “We wandered and fiddled and zithered and tambourined through France till the chills and rains of autumn rendered our vagabondage less merry.”

  2. To make a sound similar to that made by a zither; to move while making such a sound.

    “c. 1890, May Ostlere, Dead! London: Trischler, Chapter 3, p. 76, Now [the wind] swithered through the badly-fixed windows, making zithering sounds as of an army of cold and frozen-out mosquitoes […]”

    “The olives seemed weighed down under the weight of their fruit, smooth drops of green jade among which the choirs of cicadas zithered.”