What does bouzouki mean?
The bouzouki is a stringed musical instrument that serves as the emblematic voice of modern Greek music. It belongs to the lute family, featuring a long neck, a pear- or teardrop-shaped body, and courses of metal strings — traditionally three pairs, though the four-course version introduced in the twentieth century is now standard — plucked with a plectrum to produce a bright, ringing, sharply percussive tone. The instrument rose to prominence through rebetiko, the urban folk music of early twentieth-century Greece, and later carried Greek popular music onto the world stage. An adapted form has also been embraced by Irish traditional musicians since the 1960s, giving the word a second, broader currency in English. Borrowed into English from Modern Greek, bouzouki functions as a straightforward countable noun with the plural bouzoukis, and it appears most often in contexts of music, performance, and cultural writing.
nounA Greek long-necked fretted stringed instrument of the lute family, typically with four pairs of metal strings, played with a plectrum and central to modern Greek popular music.
- A Greek long-necked fretted lute with paired metal strings, played with a plectrum, especially associated with rebetiko and Greek folk music.
"The taverna fell silent as the musician lifted his bouzouki and struck the first bright chord."
"She learned to play the bouzouki while living in Athens, practising on a battered instrument inherited from her grandfather."
"The album blends Celtic fiddle with the ringing, percussive sound of an Irish-style bouzouki."
The anglicised plural bouzoukis is standard in English; the Greek plural bouzoukia occasionally appears in specialist or Greek-context writing.
"The shop displayed several handcrafted bouzoukis alongside rows of mandolins."
The bouzouki's ancestor may be named after being 'broken' — its Turkish root bozuk can mean 'broken' or 'altered' — yet it became the defining sound of modern Greece.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of bouzouki
The word bouzouki comes from Modern Greek μπουζούκι (bouzoúki), which itself derives from Turkish. The likely source is the Turkish term for a related instrument, bozuk (as in bozuk saz), from bozuk meaning 'broken' or 'altered', though the exact semantic path is debated. The instrument entered widespread international awareness in the mid-twentieth century as Greek popular music spread abroad, and the English spelling bouzouki has since become standard over earlier variants such as bazouki.
How bouzouki is actually used
In English, bouzouki most often refers specifically to the Greek three- or four-course instrument, though Irish musicians have adopted a modified version for traditional music. The plural is usually bouzoukis in English, though the Greek-derived plural bouzoukia is sometimes seen.
Easily confused with bouzouki
Bazouki is merely an older or alternative spelling variant referring to the same instrument, whereas bouzouki is now the standard spelling in English.