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Glite Dictionary
cittern

cittern

9.9
A small 16th-century stringed instrument like a guitar with a pear-shaped body and metal strings
  • noun
  • /ˈsɪtərn/
  • Archaic
translation icon : cítara
  • The musician played beautiful melodies on the cittern during the Renaissance fair.

Examples

  • At the workshop, I learned how to tune the cittern and strum its wire strings.

  • It evolved from a rapidly changing family of instruments, including the lute, vihuela, cittern, four-course guitar, and harp-guitar.

    Academic text (2010)

  • In the small ensemble, the cittern added a warm, resonant sound that complemented the other string instruments.

Synonyms

cithern
vscittern
  • Archaic
9.9

An old 16th-century string instrument like a guitar with a pear-shaped body and wire strings

is the alternative historical spelling for the same instrument
gittern
vscittern
  • Archaic
9.9

A small old instrument with strings like an early guitar

is limited to the single 16th-century Renaissance period
citole
vscittern
  • Archaic
9.9

A string instrument from the Middle Ages like a small guitar with a rounded body and metal strings

is mainly associated with the 16th-century Renaissance rather than medieval use
cither
vscittern
  • Archaic
9.9

A small string instrument like a guitar that you play by plucking the strings

is the specific 16th-century pear-shaped instrument with wire strings

Surface Forms

cittern singular
citterns plural

Etymology

The word cittern comes from an old Greek word kithara and the Latin cithara, which meant 'stringed instrument'. You can see the same root in guitar, so a cittern is an old, guitar-like instrument.