plectrum

American  

[plek-truhm] / ˈplɛk trəm /

noun

• plectra,
  plural
• plectrums
  plural

1. a small piece of plastic, metal, ivory, etc., for plucking the strings of a guitar, lyre, mandolin, etc.

2. Anatomy, Zoology. an anatomical part resembling a plectrum in shape.

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plectrum British  

/ ˈplɛktrəm /

noun

1. any implement for plucking a string, such as a small piece of plastic, wood, etc, used to strum a guitar, or the quill that plucks the string of a harpsichord

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• plectra
  plural
• plectrums
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of plectrum

1620–30; < Latin plēctrum < Greek plêktron

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

plectrum plectra plectrums

In later life, Bailey was forced to experiment further still with his guitar playing, when motor neurone disease left him unable to grip a plectrum.

From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2023

He abandoned a plectrum for direct contact with the strings, ensuring that every note was distinct, different and mattered.

From Salon ● Jan. 15, 2023

But the sum was not what angered the authorities, it was the thought that each plectrum had taken up time that could have been spent on official hoop-jumping.

From The Guardian ● Oct. 31, 2017

Instead, we have a lot of percussion and plectrum, or plucking, instruments, including a zither, partly to give it a central European feeling.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2015

I picked up a plectrum we kept on a nearby cabinet and plucked at the strings.

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

In the clavicytherium at the Smithsonian Institution the plectra nearest the keyboard points to the player's left.

From Italian Harpsichord-Building in the 16th and 17th Centuries by John D. Shortridge

The direction in which the plectra of each row of jacks should be pointing is not known.

From Italian Harpsichord-Building in the 16th and 17th Centuries by John D. Shortridge

Implements less developed belong to a separate order of sound-producing contrivances, namely plectra, and may be described as permitting strumming by striking in place of twanging or twitching the strings.

From The Violin Its Famous Makers and Their Imitators by George Hart

The plectra, perhaps not original, are of leather.

From Italian Harpsichord-Building in the 16th and 17th Centuries by John D. Shortridge

To paraphrase a popular expression, "fingers were made before plectra," the latter being an "improvement" on nature's contrivance.

From The Bow, Its History, Manufacture and Use 'The Strad' Library, No. III. by Henry Saint-George

As well as innovative collaborations he also created his own plectrums using dentist's acrylic and sometimes plucking his guitar's strings with objects such as pebbles and shells.

From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2023

In one talked-about case last year, an unemployed Finn called Christian was caught carving and selling wooden guitar plectrums.

From The Guardian ● Oct. 31, 2017

Cake decorations, coat-hanger size cubes and guitar plectrums were their tat of choice.

From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2012

Corresponding with changes in daily sunlight, solar photocells in the tree canopy trigger low-voltage charges, activating plectrums that pluck wire strings within the body of the sculpture.

From The Guardian ● Sep. 3, 2010

No one could adjust the quill plectrums of his Harpsichord to Bach's satisfaction; he always did it himself.

From Johann Sebastian Bach by Johann Nikolaus Forkel

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