Guitar and Sitar Share an Ancient Root
A guitar is a stringed instrument played by plucking. Its name traces back through Arabic and Greek to a Persian word for strings.
A guitar is a stringed instrument with a fretted neck. The name has travelled far: Spanish *guitarra* from Arabic *qitara*, from Greek *kithara*, and possibly ultimately from a Persian word meaning three strings. The Persian *sitar* means three strings too, which makes guitar and sitar distant relatives with very different sounds.
- A stringed instrument. *An acoustic guitar.*
- To play one. *He guitars a little.*
- Guitarist — one who plays. *A session guitarist.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | guitar | A classical guitar. |
| Plural | guitars | Two guitars. |
| Person | guitarist | A lead guitarist. |
| Related | kithara | A Greek kithara. |
| Related | sitar | An Indian sitar. |
How it is used in a sentence
- Standard tuning is EADGBE.Six strings.
- Zither and guitar share a root.Through Greek *kithara*.
- The electric guitar dates from the 1930s.Amplification changed popular music.
Guitar family
- Classical — nylon strings, wide neck
- Acoustic — steel strings, played with a pick or fingers
- Electric — magnetic pickups and an amplifier
- Bass — four strings, tuned an octave below
- Twelve-string — paired strings for a fuller sound
From Spanish *guitarra*, from Arabic *qitara*, from Greek *kithara*, a lyre-like instrument — which also gave English *zither*.
Are guitar and zither related?
Yes. Both descend from Greek *kithara*, by different routes into European languages.
What is standard guitar tuning?
From lowest to highest string: E, A, D, G, B, E.