zither means A musical instrument consisting of a flat sounding box with numerous strings placed on a horizontal surface, played with a plectrum or fingertips.
zither is pronounced /ˈzɪ.ðə/.
Why “zither” is a great word
A flat, box-like musical instrument whose many strings lie parallel to its soundboard and are sounded by plucking with fingers or a plectrum. From German Zither, from Old High German zithara, from Latin cithara (a stringed instrument), from Ancient Greek κιθάρα (kithára, 'a kind of harp'); first attested in English c. 1850. Unlike the guitar, with its fretted neck and contoured body held against the player, or the harp, with its vertical strings rising from a soundboard, the zither is a contained world of horizontal wire. It is the soft, rippling chatter of strings under a cafe lamplight, the lonely folk melody echoing from an alpine parlour, and the metallic shimmer trapped inside a wooden box—a reservoir of sound waiting, patient and entire, on a tabletop.
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.
noun
- A musical instrument consisting of a flat sounding box with numerous strings placed on a horizontal surface, played with a plectrum or fingertips.
- 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
- To play a zither.e.g.“[…] 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.”
- To make a sound similar to that made by a zither; to move while making such a sound.e.g.“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 […]”
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- zithern 75% match — A zither vs zither →
- psaltery 74% match — A zither-like musical instrument consisting of a soundboard with multiple strings, played by plucking the strings with the fingers or a plectrum. vs zither →
- zitherist 68% match — Someone who plays the zither vs zither →
- cittern 66% match — A stringed instrument (chordophone), played with a plectrum (a pick), and most commonly possessing four wire strings and chromatic frets, which is a precursor to the modern day guitar. vs zither →
- waldzither 64% match — A type of stringed instrument, a cittern of German origin, with nine strings in five courses. vs zither →
- guzheng 64% match — A zither-like stringed instrument with at least eighteen strings and moveable bridges, played with a plectrum, originating in the traditional music of China. vs zither →
- gittern 60% match — A small, quill-plucked, gut-strung musical instrument, most commonly with three to four strings in doubles courses; it is a flat-backed predecessor of the guitar, and it originated around the 13th century, coming to Europe via Moorish Spain. vs zither →
- psalmodicon 60% match — A simple zither-like single-stringed chordophone (stringed instrument), played with a bow, of Scandinavian origin. vs zither →