Word.ws English Dictionary

lyra

/ˈlaɪ.ɹə/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

rare/ˈlɪ(ə)ɹ.ə/

lyra noun: the middle portion of the ventral surface of the fornix of the brain.

Noun (1)

lyra

  1. (dated) The middle portion of the ventral surface of the fornix of the brain.
    • The vessels of the brain generally are often distended and gorged with blood, the lyra especially being fully injected.1840, Alexander Tweedie, William Wood Gerhard, A system of practical medicine: Volume 1, page 295

Noun (2)

lyra (plural lyras)

  1. A vertically suspended hoop used in acrobatic performances.

Noun (3)

lyra (plural lyras)

  1. A bowed string musical instrument used in the Byzantine Empire.
    • A Persian scholar of the early tenth century, lbn Khurradadhbih, reported the lyra to be in widespread use throughout the empire, along with organs and bagpipes.2013, Howard Goodall, “The Age of Penitence, 1450–1650”, in The Story of Music, Chatto & Windus, page 55
    • The Cretan lyra is considered to be the most popular surviving form of the medieval Byzantine lyra, an ancestor of most European bowed instruments.2019, Efthimios Bakarezos, Yannis Orphanos, Evaggelos Kaselouris, Vasilios Dimitriou, Michael Tatarakis, Nektarios A. Papadogiannis, “Laser-Based Interferometric Techniques for the Study of Musical...
  2. A bowed instrument used in folk music in Crete, Greece.
    • According to the Greek musicologist Fivos Anoyanakis, the piriform lyras of Crete have, at various times throughout history, been produced in different sizes and styles.1980, Margaret Anne Downie, “The Modern Greek Lyra”, in Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society, page 153
    • Immediately after the ceremony, the wedding procession, accompanied by the lyra, lute (laouto) and songs, returns to the groom’s house[…]1988, Krētē: Monthly Publication of the Pancretan Association of America, page 10

Proper noun capitalized: Lyra

Lyra

  1. A summer constellation of the northern sky, said to resemble a lyre. It includes the bright star Vega and the Ring Nebula.
  2. A female given name from Ancient Greek.
    • A little parapet ran all the way around the square roof, and Pantalaimon often draped his pine-marten form over the mock-battlements on the corner facing south, and dozed while Lyra sat below with her back against the sun-drenched stone, studying the books she'd brought up with her.2003, Philip Pullman, Lyra's Oxford

Examples of lyra in a sentence

  • The direct ancestor of all European bowed instruments is the Arabic rebab which developed into the Byzantine lyra by the ninth century and later the European rebec.2021, Robert U. Ayres, The History and Future of Technology: Can Technology Save Humanity from Extinction?, Springer, →ISBN, page 72:
  • In Crete, the lyra continues to be practiced.2019, Janet Sturman, editor, The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Music and Culture, SAGE Publications:
  • Faithfully following the authentic local tradition, most lyras are entirely handmade.2020, “Cretan Lyra”, in Andrew R. Martin, Matthew Mihalka, editors, Music Around the World: A Global Encyclopedia, ABC-Clio, →ISBN, →LCCN...

Forms of lyra

plurallyras
alternative formlira

Origin of lyra

So called from the arrangement of the lines with which it is marked in the human brain.

From Ancient Greek λῠ́ρᾱ (lŭ́rā) or Modern Greek λύρα (lýra). Doublet of lira, Lyra, and lyre.

Borrowed from Latin Lyra/lyra, from Ancient Greek λύρα (lúra, “a lyre; the constellation Lyra”). Doublet of lira, lyra, and lyre.

Words formed from lyra

Phrases with lyra

Words that rhyme with lyra

Questions about lyra

What does lyra mean?
Lyra means the middle portion of the ventral surface of the fornix of the brain.
How do you use lyra in a sentence?
The direct ancestor of all European bowed instruments is the Arabic rebab which developed into the Byzantine lyra by the ninth century and later the European rebec.
What part of speech is lyra?
Lyra can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce lyra?
Lyra is pronounced /ˈlaɪ.ɹə/.
What is the plural of lyra?
The plural of lyra is lyras.

Words near lyra in the dictionary

  1. lypressin
  2. LYPs
  3. Lyptsi
  4. lypusid
  5. lypusids
  6. lyra
  7. lyra viol
  8. lyra violist
  9. lyra violists
  10. lyra viols
  11. Lyraid

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: lyra (page history and authors); Lyra (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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Cite this entry: “lyra.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lyra. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.