Word.ws English Dictionary

kantele

UK/ˈkæntələ/US/ˈkɑntəleɪ̯/

kantele noun: a plucked string instrument (a zither) of the Baltic psaltery family, traditionally with five strings but now more widely varying, originating in the folk music of Finland, where it is seen as a national symbol.

kantele: a plucked string instrument (a zither) of the Baltic psaltery family, traditionally with five...
Image: Paul Lenz, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

kantele (plural kanteles)

  1. A plucked string instrument (a zither) of the Baltic psaltery family, traditionally with five strings but now more widely varying, originating in the folk music of Finland, where it is seen as a national symbol.
    • With his fingers Väinämöinen played / with its strings the kantele rang out […].1989, Elias Lönnrot, translated by Keith Bosley, The Kalevala, section XLIV

Forms of kantele

pluralkanteles

Origin of kantele

From Finnish kantele. Ultimate etymology contested; see Proto-Finnic *kandël for theories.

Questions about kantele

What does kantele mean?
Kantele means a plucked string instrument (a zither) of the Baltic psaltery family, traditionally with five strings but now more widely varying, originating in the folk music of Finland, where it is seen as a national symbol.
What part of speech is kantele?
Kantele is a noun.
How do you pronounce kantele?
Kantele is pronounced /ˈkæntələ/ (UK).
What is the plural of kantele?
The plural of kantele is kanteles.

Words near kantele in the dictionary

  1. Kantean
  2. Kanteans
  3. Kantei
  4. kantela
  5. kantelas
  6. kantele
  7. kanteles
  8. kanten
  9. kantenji
  10. Kanter
  11. Kanters

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: kantele (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.

Last updated:

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