gittern

9.9

A small old instrument with strings like an early guitar

noun

Archaic

: guiterna

Unlike the modern guitar, the gittern often had wire strings and a rounded back.

Examples

The museum displayed a rare gittern dating from the Renaissance period.
She studied medieval music and learned to play the gittern as part of her research.
The gittern was a popular instrument in the 16th century.
He plays the gittern beautifully.
The museum displayed a rare gittern dating from the Renaissance period.
She studied medieval music and learned to play the gittern as part of her research.
Unlike the modern guitar, the gittern often had wire strings and a rounded back.

Synonyms

cittern

vsgittern

Archaic

9.9

A small 16th-century stringed instrument like a guitar with a pear-shaped body and metal strings

covers both medieval and Renaissance periods rather than only the 16th century

cithern

vsgittern

Archaic

9.9

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

is described for both earlier medieval and later Renaissance use

citole

vsgittern

Archaic

9.9

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

extends the idea into the Renaissance as well as medieval origins

cither

vsgittern

Archaic

9.9

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

is more specifically described by pear-shaped body and wire strings

Surface Forms

gittern singular

gitterns plural

Etymology

Gittern comes from an old French word guiterne and shares the same root as guitar and the Greek kithara, which meant 'stringed instrument'. So think of a gittern as an early, smaller guitar, which explains why it looks and sounds like the modern guitar.