Word.ws English Dictionary

rabab

/ɹɪˈbæb/

rabab noun: an Arabian stringed instrument, played by plucking or with a bow.

rabab: an Arabian stringed instrument, played by plucking or with a bow
Image: St.Cecilia's Hall, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

rabab (plural rababs)

  1. An Arabian stringed instrument, played by plucking or with a bow.
    • The hired musicians—rabab, hand drums, and ghärawnay, or Chinese flute—had learned “Kalinka” and “Ochi Chorniya”2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 846

Forms of rabab

pluralrababs
alternative formrebab

Origin of rabab

Borrowed from Arabic رَبَاب (rabāb), plural of رَبَابَة (rabāba).

Words that rhyme with rabab

17 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about rabab

What does rabab mean?
Rabab means an Arabian stringed instrument, played by plucking or with a bow.
What part of speech is rabab?
Rabab is a noun.
How do you pronounce rabab?
Rabab is pronounced /ɹɪˈbæb/.
What is the plural of rabab?
The plural of rabab is rababs.

Words near rabab in the dictionary

  1. Raatz
  2. Raatzes
  3. Raavan
  4. Raaya
  5. Rab
  6. rabab
  7. rababs
  8. Rabadan
  9. Rabadans
  10. rabadi
  11. Rabadis

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rabab (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: “rabab.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rabab. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.