luthier

English

WOTD – 12 June 2010

A luthier at work.

Etymology

Borrowed from French luthier, from luth (“lute”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈluː.ti.ə/, /ˈljuː.ti.ə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈluː.ti.ɚ/, /ˈluː.θi.ɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

luthier (plural luthiers)

1. A person who, or a business which, makes or repairs stringed wooden musical instruments, such as lutes, violins, and guitars.

   Synonym: violin maker

   Hypernym: instrument maker

Derived terms

• luthiery

Related terms

• lute
• lutherie

Translations

a person who, or a business which, makes or repairs stringed wooden musical instrument

• Bulgarian: лютиер m (ljutier)
• Catalan: lutier m
• Esperanto: lutieristo
• Finnish: kielisoitinten rakentaja, viulunrakentaja (fi), kitaranrakentaja
• French: luthier (fr) m, luthière (fr) f
• German: Lautenbauer m, Lautenbauerin f, Geigenbauer (de) m, Geigenbauerin (de) f, Gitarrenbauer (de) m, Gitarrenbauerin (de) f
• Italian: liutaio (it) m, liutaia f
• Occitan: laütièr m, laütièra f
• Polish: lutnik (pl) m, lutniczka f
• Portuguese: lutiê (pt) m or f
• Purepecha: please add this translation if you can
• Quechua: lutier
• Romanian: lutier (ro) m
• Slovak: husliar m, lutnár m
• Spanish: lutier (es) m or f
• Vietnamese: thợ làm đàn
• Walloon: lutî m, lutresse f

Anagrams

• Luthrie

French

Etymology

From luth +‎ -ier.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ly.tje/

Noun

luthier m (plural luthiers)

1. luthier, violin maker

Descendants

• English: luthier

Further reading

• “luthier”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French luthier.

Noun

luthier m (plural luthiers or luthieres)

1. alternative spelling of lutier

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Further reading

• “luthier”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025