What does "jamisen" mean?

An archaic stringed instrument of Japanese origin, traditionally made from snakeskin and characteristic of the Ryukyu islands; it is the ancestor of the shamisen.

What is a synonym for "jamisen"?

Common synonyms include: shamisen, shamisen.

Jamisen

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
An archaic stringed instrument of Japanese origin, traditionally made from snakeskin and characteristic of the Ryukyu islands; it is the ancestor of the shamisen. obsolete

Synonyms

All synonyms

shamisen shamisen

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 蛇味線 (jamisen).

Related phrases

stringed instrument

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