zither
/ˈzɪ.ðə/US/ˈzɪ.ðɚ/
zither noun: a musical instrument consisting of a flat sounding box with numerous strings placed on a horizontal surface, played with a plectrum or fingertips.
Noun
zither (plural zithers)
- A musical instrument consisting of a flat sounding box with numerous strings placed on a horizontal surface, played with a plectrum or fingertips.
- “And where you ever got the idea that you'd hit it off with a vampire is beyond me.” “And for your information, she's not a vampire. She just likes to dress that way.” “Oh, I'm sorry. All palid pouty people look alike to me.” “Plus, she's a very talented zither player.” “Which you know all about...1999 August 24, Japhet Asher and Peter Gaffney, “Insomnia” (5:30 from the start), in Downtown, season 1, episode 4, spoken by Alex Henson (Gregory Gilmore), archived from the original on 20 Mar 2021
- Related or similar instruments in other cultures, such as the Chinese guqin or Norwegian harpeleik; especially any chordophone without a neck, and with strings that pass over the body.
Verb
zither (third-person singular simple present zithers, present participle zithering, simple past and past participle zithered)
- To play a zither.
- […] the fluting began again. Not alone this time, but, to Rosalie’s infinite surprise, accompanied on a zither. […] At this moment the fluting and zithering began again.1892, Edmund Gosse, chapter 3, in The Secret of Narcisse, New York: United States Book Company, page 100,102
- We wandered and fiddled and zithered and tambourined through France till the chills and rains of autumn rendered our vagabondage less merry.1906, William John Locke, chapter 9, in The Belovéd Vagabond, New York: John Lane, published 1911, pages 120–121
- To make a sound similar to that made by a zither; to move while making such a sound.
- Now [the wind] swithered through the badly-fixed windows, making zithering sounds as of an army of cold and frozen-out mosquitoes […]c. 1890, May Ostlere, Dead! London: Trischler, Chapter 3, p. 76
- The olives seemed weighed down under the weight of their fruit, smooth drops of green jade among which the choirs of cicadas zithered.1956, Gerald Durrell, My Family and Other Animals, Penguin, published 2000, Part Two, Chapter 10, p. 123
zither meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Tagalog
zither in Hindi
- musical instrument
- संतूर santūr, सितार sitār
zither in Tamil
- இசைத்தட்டம்
zither in Urdu
- سنتور
zither in Tagalog
- musical instrument
- sitara
More languagesFewer languages
- zither in Malay
- ziter
- zither in Persian
- سنتور
- zither in Thai
- จะเข้ jà-kêe, ซิทเธอร์
- zither in Vietnamese
- đàn tranh
Examples of zither in a sentence
- Once I owned a bike […] It had no fenders and one gear only, and on the forks, both fore and aft, I clipped some plastic playing cards to zither loudly through the spokes.1985, Kim Chapin, chapter 19, in Dogwood Afternoons, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, page 178:
- ‘Look at that!’ she shouted, already backing up the Jeep, its tyres zithering on the crusty surface.1996, Carl Huberman, chapter 38, in Eminent Domain, London: Macmillan, page 328:
- The other men opened fire with pistols, slugs zithering past him with a dull whine.2004, Matt Braun, chapter 15, in Black Gold, New York: St Martin’s Paperbacks, page 158:
Forms of zither
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | zithers |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | zithers |
| present participle | zithering |
| past participle | zithered |
| past | zithered |
Origin of zither
Borrowed from German Zither, from Old High German zithara, from Latin cithara, from Ancient Greek κιθάρα (kithára, “a kind of harp”). Doublet of cithara, cither, and guitar.
Words formed from zither
Words that rhyme with zither
- dither
- whither
- wither
- lither
- slither
- swither
- blither
- hither
- hither and thither
- nither
- thither
- mither
1 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about zither
- What does zither mean?
- Zither means a musical instrument consisting of a flat sounding box with numerous strings placed on a horizontal surface, played with a plectrum or fingertips.
- What is zither in Hindi?
- Zither in Hindi is संतूर (santūr), सितार (sitār). See Zither meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use zither in a sentence?
- Once I owned a bike […] It had no fenders and one gear only, and on the forks, both fore and aft, I clipped some plastic playing cards to zither loudly through the spokes.
- What part of speech is zither?
- Zither can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce zither?
- Zither is pronounced /ˈzɪ.ðə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of zither?
- The plural of zither is zithers.
Words near zither in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: zither (page history and authors); zither (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); zither (Urdu Wiktionary) (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-zither.wav.
Cite this entry: “zither.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/zither. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.