# guitar

Pronunciation: US say "gi-TAHR" /ɡɪˈtɑɹ/; UK say "gi-TAH" /ɡɪˈtɑː(ɹ)/

## Noun

1. A stringed instrument that originated in Europe, typically with six strings and a fretted fingerboard, played by plucking or strumming with the fingers or a pick.
   - Simple: A musical instrument with six strings and a long neck, played by plucking or strumming.
   - _He tuned his guitar carefully before stepping onto the stage._
   - _Classical guitars are usually strung with nylon rather than steel._
2. Any instrument of the lute family, marked by a flat back and a neck whose upper surface lies in the same plane as the soundboard, with strings running parallel to it.
   - Simple: Any instrument in the lute family that has a flat back and strings running along a flat neck.
   - _Specialists treat the flat back and level neck as the defining traits of any guitar._
   - _Structurally, the Portuguese cavaquinho is a small guitar with only four strings._

## Verb

3. To play music on the guitar. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: To make music by playing a guitar.
   - _The two friends guitar together every Friday in the garage._
   - _She guitared for hours after dinner, completely lost in the music._

## Origin

Borrowed from Spanish guitarra, which came from Arabic qīṯāra, in turn from Ancient Greek kithárā. It is a doublet of cithara, cither, and zither.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/guitar (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).