What does chordophone mean?
A chordophone is any musical instrument that makes sound through vibrating strings stretched between two fixed points, whether the strings are plucked, bowed, struck, or otherwise set in motion. The term comes from the Hornbostel–Sachs system, the standard scholarly classification of instruments, where chordophones form one of four major categories alongside idiophones, membranophones, and aerophones. Under this definition, an enormous range of instruments qualifies as chordophones: guitars, violins, harps, pianos, lutes, lyres, zithers, and countless traditional instruments from around the world, such as the Indian sitar or the Chinese guzheng. Although chordophone is chiefly a technical term encountered in musicology, ethnomusicology, and museum contexts rather than casual conversation, it usefully groups together instruments that ordinary language would treat separately — after all, few listeners intuitively link a grand piano with a ukulele. For anyone studying how instruments are organised across cultures, chordophone is an indispensable label for the entire string-sounding family.
nounA musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings stretched between fixed points, such as a piano, guitar, violin, or harp.
- Any of a class of musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings stretched between two points, one of the four main divisions of instruments in the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system.
"In the museum's collection, every chordophone — from the simplest zither to the grand piano — was displayed with its strings clearly visible."
"Ethnomusicologists divide the world's instruments into four broad classes: idiophones, membranophones, aerophones, and chordophones."
"The sitar is a plucked chordophone with sympathetic strings that resonate beneath its main playing strings."
The plural follows regular English noun inflection and is common in scholarly writing when discussing classes of stringed instruments collectively.
"Bowed chordophones such as violins and erhus are found in musical traditions across Europe and Asia."
By the strictest definition, the piano is a percussion instrument you play like a chordophone — its hammers strike, but it's still classified by its singing strings.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of chordophone
The word chordophone was coined in the early twentieth century from Greek roots specifically for the Hornbostel–Sachs classification of musical instruments, first published in 1914. It combines Greek 'chordē', meaning string or gut, with 'phōnē', meaning sound or voice, so it literally means 'string-sounder'. The same Greek elements appear in related coinages such as idiophone, membranophone, and aerophone, as well as older words like telephone and symphony.
How chordophone is actually used
Chordophone is primarily a technical term used in musicology, ethnomusicology, and organology (the study of musical instruments). In everyday speech, people are far more likely to say 'string instrument' or 'stringed instrument.' The word carries no emotional connotation and is neutral and formal in register. Its plural is regularly formed as chordophones.
Easily confused with chordophone
A chord is a group of notes sounded together in music, whereas a chordophone is an instrument whose strings vibrate to make sound.