Meanings
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1
noun
a stringed instrument with many strings stretched across a flat, usually horizontal soundbox and played by plucking or strumming
The musician placed the zither on the table and plucked a bright arpeggio.
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2
noun
organology: any neckless chordophone whose strings run across or parallel to its body, including instruments from many musical traditions
The museum displayed a Chinese guqin as one member of the broad zither family.
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3
verb
rare: to play a zither
The ensemble zithers softly beneath the singer's opening verse.
Thesaurus
Etymology
Borrowed from German Zither, from Old High German zithara, ultimately Latin cithara and Greek kithara, a stringed instrument. It is related by descent or borrowing to cither, cithara, and guitar, though the modern instruments differ in form.