banjo

[ban-joh]

noun, plural ban·jos, ban·joes.

a musical instrument of the guitar family, having a circular body covered in front with tightly stretched parchment and played with the fingers or a plectrum.

Origin of banjo

1730–40; compare Jamaican English banja, bonjour, bangil, Brazilian Portuguese banza; probably of African orig.; compare Kimbundu mbanza a plucked string instrument

Related formsban·jo·ist, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for banjo

Contemporary Examples of banjo

Well someone gave that kid a banjo and a Wi-Fi connection and told him to go to town.
Michael Cera’s ‘true that’ Review: So Melancholy, So Cool, So Damn Long
Amy Zimmerman
August 13, 2014
In her down time, she plays the banjo in an all-girl band, Loose Gravel.
Could Michelle Obama Run for the U.S. Senate?
Eleanor Clift
March 31, 2013
When he was 11, his father built him a banjo, at first fashioning the head out of groundhog hide.
Doc Watson, a Legendary Picker, Was Traditional Music’s Best Ambassador
Malcolm Jones
May 30, 2012
Before Earl Scruggs, banjo players were not front men, but they were funny.
Earl Scruggs, Dead at 88, Pioneered a Banjo Style Imitated but Never Equaled
Malcolm Jones
March 29, 2012
In a tradition that goes back to the days of the minstrel show, the banjo player doubled as a comedian.
Earl Scruggs, Dead at 88, Pioneered a Banjo Style Imitated but Never Equaled
Malcolm Jones
March 29, 2012

Historical Examples of banjo

On a low couch piled with cushions lay Helen's mandolin and a banjo.
The Bacillus of Beauty
Harriet Stark
He just missed running into Banjo on the Hog's Back by the skin of the teeth.
Chip, of the Flying U
B. M. Bower
That evening old Barnaby brought his banjo around to the veranda.
Southern Lights and Shadows
Various
Down the middle of the guitar there is a walled enclosure of the shape of a banjo.
The Manxman
Hall Caine
Come up and bring that boy with his banjo, and we'll have a lot of fun.
Dave Porter At Bear Camp
Edward Stratemeyer

British Dictionary definitions for banjo

banjo

noun plural -jos or -joes

a stringed musical instrument with a long neck (usually fretted) and a circular drumlike body overlaid with parchment, plucked with the fingers or a plectrum
slang any banjo-shaped object, esp a frying pan
Australian and NZ slang a long-handled shovel with a wide blade
(modifier) banjo-shapeda banjo clock

Derived Formsbanjoist, noun

Word Origin for banjo

C18: variant (US Southern pronunciation) of bandore

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for banjo

1764, American English, usually described as of African origin, probably akin to Bantu mbanza, an instrument resembling a banjo. The word has been influenced by colloquial pronunciation of bandore (1560s in English), a 16c. stringed instrument like a lute and an ancestor (musically and linguistically) of mandolin; from Portuguese bandurra, from Latin pandura, from Greek pandoura "three-stringed instrument." The origin and influence might be the reverse of what is here described.

banjo in Culture

banjo

A stringed musical instrument, played by plucking (see strings). The banjo has a percussive sound and is much used in folk music and bluegrass music.