lyre

See also: lyře

English

A lyre

Etymology

From Ancient Greek λύρα (lúra, “lyre, a stringed instrument with a sounding-board formed of the shell of a tortoise”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈlaɪ.ə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈlaɪ.ɚ/, /laɪɹ/
• Rhymes: -aɪə(r)
• Homophones: liar, lier

Noun

lyre (plural lyres)

1. (music) An ancient stringed musical instrument (a yoke lute chordophone) of Greek origin, consisting of two arms extending from a body to a crossbar (a yoke), and strings, parallel to the soundboard, connecting the body to the yoke.
   1. Any instrument of the same musicological classification; any yoke lute.
2. A lyre-shaped sheet music holder that attaches to a wind instrument when a music stand is impractical.

Related terms

• Lyra
• lyrebird
• lyrical

Synonyms

• (a general class of instruments): yoke lute

References

• 2012. Kisir and Tanbura. Dahab Khalil and Artur Simon. Pg. 96.
• 2007. Origins and Development of Musical Instruments. Jeremy Montagu. Pg. 128.

Translations

stringed musical instrument

• Albanian: sharkë (sq) (archaic)
• Armenian: քնար (hy) (kʿnar)
• Basque: lira (eu)
• Catalan: lira (ca) f
• Chinese: 里拉 (lǐlā)
• Czech: lyra (cs) f
• Danish: lyre c
• Dutch: lier (nl) f
• Esperanto: liro
• Estonian: lüüra
• Faroese: lýri m
• Finnish: lyyra (fi)
• French: lyre (fr) f
• German: Leier (de) f, Lyra (de) f
• Greek: λύρα (el) f (lýra)
• Hiligaynon: árpa
• Hungarian: líra (hu)
• Icelandic: lýra f
• Ido: liro (io)
• Irish: lir f
• Italian: lira (it) f

• Japanese: ライアー (raiā)
• Latin: lyra f
• Lithuanian: lyra
• Middle Persian: [script needed] (barbūt)
• Occitan: lira f
• Old English: hearpe
• Persian: چنگ‎‎ (fa) (čang), چنگ رومی‎‎ (fa) (čang-e-rūmī)
• Piedmontese: lira f
• Polish: lira (pl) f
• Portuguese: lira (pt) f
• Romanian: liră (ro) f
• Russian: ли́ра (ru) f (líra)
• Serbo-Croatian: lȋra (sh) f
• Slovak: lýra f
• Slovene: lira (sl) f
• Spanish: lira (es) f
• Swahili: lira, kinubi kidogo
• Swedish: lyra (sv) c
• Turkish: lir (tr)
• Welsh: telyn gron f

lyre-shaped music holder

• Icelandic: lýra f

Further reading

• lyre in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• lyre in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Homophones

• lire

Anagrams

• Ryle, rely

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /liʁ/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

lyre f (plural lyres)

1. lyre