noun · verb · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
Received-Pronunciation:/ˈzɪ.ðə/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
A musical instrument consisting of a flat sounding box with numerous strings placed on a horizontal surface, played with a plectrum or fingertips.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, music
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
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.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Qualifier: translations
Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, music
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
verb
Meaning 3
To play a zither.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
1999, Richard Hacken (translator), “Mary in Misery” by Peter Rosegger in Into the Sunset: Anthology of Nineteenth-Century Austrian Prose, Riverside, CA: Ariadne Press, pp. 413-414, We traveled far and wide: he played the zither while I sang an accompaniment. [...] He keeps zithering, and I sing like before, and before long we’ve put together a pretty good pile of money . . .
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
4
verb
Meaning 4
To make a sound similar to that made by a zither; to move while making such a sound.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
c. 1890, May Ostlere, Dead! London: Trischler, Chapter 3, p. 76, Now [the wind] swithered through the badly-fixed windows, making zithering sounds as of an army of cold and frozen-out mosquitoes [...]
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
5
noun
Meaning 5
a musical stringed instrument with strings stretched over a flat sounding board; it is laid flat and played with a plectrum and with fingers
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: cither, zithern
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: stringed instrument
Narrower terms: dulcimer
History
Etymology
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.
Across languages
Translations
54 source translations are retained for this English entry.
