Guitar
The guitar in five languages — guitar, chitarra, Gitarre, guitare
Related
Five languages
| Language | Name |
|---|---|
| Chinese | 吉他 |
| English | guitar |
| Italian | chitarra |
| German | Gitarre |
| French | guitare |
The guitar is a plucked instrument: the classical guitar uses nylon strings, the acoustic and electric use steel. The Chinese name is a transliteration; English guitar came through Spanish guitarra from Greek kithara — one name has travelled two thousand years and no longer names the same instrument.
Watch out: classical and acoustic guitars are both 吉他 in Chinese, but differ in strings, colour and tradition; 六弦琴 is an older term, now often meaning the steel-strung acoustic.
Read deeper → Classical Guitar · Acoustic Guitar
Sources
- 各语种乐器名与 guitar 的词源，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Guitar"；本文为原创表述
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.