lyre
/ˈlaɪ.ə//ˈlaɪ.ɚ/
lyre noun: an ancient stringed musical instrument (a yoke lute chordophone) of Greek origin, consisting of two arms extending from a body to a crossbar (a yoke), and strings, parallel to the soundboard, connecting the body to the yoke.
Noun
lyre (plural lyres)
- An ancient stringed musical instrument (a yoke lute chordophone) of Greek origin, consisting of two arms extending from a body to a crossbar (a yoke), and strings, parallel to the soundboard, connecting the body to the yoke.
- Any instrument of the same musicological classification; any yoke lute.
- A lyre-shaped sheet music holder that attaches to a wind instrument when a music stand is impractical.
- A composer of lyric poetry.
Verb
lyre (third-person singular simple present lyres, present participle lyring, simple past and past participle lyred)
- to play the lyre
- Alas, far times ago / A woman lyred here / In the evenfall; one who fain did so / From year to year; / And, in loneliness bending wistfully, / Would wake each note / In sick sad rote, / None to listen or see!1922, Thomas Hardy, “Penance”, in Late Lyrics and Earlier with Many Other Verses, London: Macmillan and Co., […], →OCLC, page 143
lyre meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Pashto and Arabic
lyre in Tamil
- ஒரு நரம்பிசைக் கருவி
lyre in Urdu
- بربط, چنگ
lyre in Pashto
- lyre
- سرينده srindá
lyre in Arabic
- stringed musical instrument
- كِنَّارَة kinnāra
More languagesFewer languages
- lyre in Persian
- چنگ čang, چنگ رومی čang-e rumi
Synonyms of lyre
Forms of lyre
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | lyres |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | lyres |
| present participle | lyring |
| past participle | lyred |
| past | lyred |
Origin of lyre
From Middle English lire (13th c.), from Old French lire, from Latin lyra, from Ancient Greek λύρᾱ (lúrā, “lyre, a stringed instrument with a sounding-board formed of the shell of a tortoise”). Doublet of lira, lyra, and Lyra.
Words formed from lyre
Phrases with lyre
Words that rhyme with lyre
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- choir
- desire
- esquire
- inspire
- tire
- acquire
- admire
- dire
- empire
- respire
- sire
- transpire
- trier
- dryer
- friar
- fryer
- gyre
- mire
- misfire
- require
- underfire
- aspire
- bemire
- buyer
- conspire
- inquire
- overfire
- perspire
- quire
- tyre
- attire
- briar
- crier
- higher
- lier
- overtire
- Pryor
- pyre
- re-retire
- retrochoir
- rewire
- supplier
- suspire
- underwire
- unretire
- afire
- byre
- drier
Questions about lyre
- What does lyre mean?
- Lyre means an ancient stringed musical instrument (a yoke lute chordophone) of Greek origin, consisting of two arms extending from a body to a crossbar (a yoke), and strings, parallel to the soundboard, connecting the body to the yoke.
- What is lyre in Tamil?
- Lyre in Tamil is ஒரு நரம்பிசைக் கருவி. See Lyre meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is lyre?
- Lyre can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce lyre?
- Lyre is pronounced /ˈlaɪ.ə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of lyre?
- The plural of lyre is lyres.
Words near lyre in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: lyre (page history and authors); lyre (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); lyre (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); سرينده (Pashto) (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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-lyre.wav, Lyre-Liar-us-eng.wav.
Cite this entry: “lyre.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lyre. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.