Word.ws English Dictionary

clavicytherium

Syllables: clav·i·cy·ther·i·um/ˌklæv.ə.saɪˈθɪə.ɹɪ.əm/US/ˌklæv.ə.saɪˈθɪə.ɹi.əm/

clavicytherium noun: a harpsichord in which the soundboard and strings are mounted vertically facing the player.

clavicytherium: a harpsichord in which the soundboard and strings are mounted vertically facing the player
Image: Marie-Hélène Cingal, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

clavicytherium (plural clavicytheriums or clavicytheria)

  1. A harpsichord in which the soundboard and strings are mounted vertically facing the player.
    • [T]he harpſichord is an improvement of the Clavicitherium, an inſtrument known in England in Gower's time by the name of the Citole, from Cistella, a little cheſt.1776, John Hawkins, “Preliminary Discourse”, in A General History of the Science and Practice of Music, … In Five Volumes, volume I, London: Printed for T[homas] Payne and Son, at the Mews-Gate...
    • When we consider the state of imperfection in which all keyed instruments, the organ excepted, remained till within these few years past, we can scarcely bring ourselves to believe tha instruments analogous to them were in use as far back as 1530. Yet such was the case: four instruments of this...1827 January, Fetis [i.e., François-Joseph Fétis], “Improvement in the Construction of Pianos. From the Revue Musicale”, in The Harmonicon, a Journal of Music, volume V, London: Printed for the...

Examples of clavicytherium in a sentence

  • The first stringed instrument to which the key-board was applied, was probably the clavicytherium, or keyed-cithara.1860, Edward F[rancis] Rimbault, “The First Instruments of the Pianoforte Class”, in The Pianoforte, Its Origin, Progress, and...
  • [W]e find indications of a keyed instrument after the year 1300, called the Clavicytherium, or keyed cithara.1867 July, “The Piano in the United States”, in The Atlantic Monthly. A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and Politics, volume XX...
  • Playing a clavicytherium is a sensual experience: the soundboard is directly in front and the sound is projected right at the player.1978, Edward L[eon] Kottick, “A Short History of the Harpsichord”, in The Harpsichord Owner’s Guide: A Manual for Buyers and Owners, Chapel...

Forms of clavicytherium

pluralclavicytheriums
pluralclavicytheria
alternative formclavicitherium

Origin of clavicytherium

From Late Latin clavicytherium, from Medieval Latin clāvis (“key”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kleh₂w- (“crook, hook, peg”)) + cithara (“cithara, guitar, lute, lyre”) + -ium (“suffix forming nouns”).

Questions about clavicytherium

What does clavicytherium mean?
Clavicytherium means a harpsichord in which the soundboard and strings are mounted vertically facing the player.
How do you use clavicytherium in a sentence?
The first stringed instrument to which the key-board was applied, was probably the clavicytherium, or keyed-cithara.
What part of speech is clavicytherium?
Clavicytherium is a noun.
How do you pronounce clavicytherium?
Clavicytherium is pronounced /ˌklæv.ə.saɪˈθɪə.ɹɪ.əm/ (UK).
What is the plural of clavicytherium?
The plural of clavicytherium is clavicytheriums.

Words near clavicytherium in the dictionary

  1. clavicymbal
  2. clavicymbals
  3. clavicymbalum
  4. clavicymbalums
  5. clavicytheria
  6. clavicytherium
  7. clavicytheriums
  8. clavie
  9. clavier
  10. clavierist
  11. clavieristic

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: clavicytherium (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-clavicytherium.wav.

Cite this entry: “clavicytherium.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/clavicytherium. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.