Bandura

//bænˈdʊəɹə// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A Ukrainian plucked stringed instrument with a tear-shaped body, like an asymmetrical lute or a vertical zither, which is played with both hands while held upright on the lap.

    "He touches the strings and pours forth a song descriptive of his live, his wanderings, his anguish, and is discovered by the magic tones of the bandura, his adventures, above all, by his voice and passionate fire."

Example

More examples

"He touches the strings and pours forth a song descriptive of his live, his wanderings, his anguish, and is discovered by the magic tones of the bandura, his adventures, above all, by his voice and passionate fire."

Etymology

Borrowed from Ukrainian банду́ра (bandúra), possibly through Italian pandura and Polish bandura, from Late Latin pandura (“musical instrument with three strings”), from Ancient Greek πανδοῦρα (pandoûra, “three-stringed lute; zither”), perhaps from Lydian.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.