sitar

American  

[si-tahr] / sɪˈtɑr /

noun

1. a lute of India with a small, pear-shaped body and a long, broad, fretted neck.

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sitar British  

/ ˈsɪtɑː, sɪˈtɑː /

noun

1. a stringed musical instrument, esp of India, having a long neck, a rounded body, and movable frets. The main strings, three to seven in number, overlie other sympathetic strings, the tuning depending on the raga being performed

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Other Word Forms

• sitarist noun

Etymology

Origin of sitar

First recorded in 1835–45, sitar is from the Hindi word sitār

Explanation

A sitar is a stringed instrument used in classical Indian music. Music you hear at an Indian restaurant or in a Bollywood movie probably features the distinctive twangy drone of the sitar. Although thousands of years old, the sitar got famous in the West in the 1960s when bands like the Kinks and the Beatles used sitars in popular songs. Sitars have long necks and as many as 21 strings. It's like a guitar, but in addition to the six or seven strings that a sitar player plucks, there are more that vibrate beneath the frets, called "sympathetic strings." Despite all these strings, the word sitar means "three-stringed" in Persian.

Example Sentences

"I'm a professional musician, and also teach music," Amir Hussain Khan, a sitar player, told AFP.

From Barron's • Apr. 11, 2026

Whether it’s a semi-ironic obsession with artisanal cheese-making, a random passion for sitar music or a stubborn preference for a flip phone, there are many wonderful contradictions about humans that algorithms can’t quite pin down.

From Salon • Sep. 26, 2025

The sleeve notes credit players of the sitar and the tabla, the Kashmiri santoor and the South Indian kanjira.

From BBC • Sep. 11, 2025

The album’s closing cut, “Rosa,” is a traditional merengue that Pabön turned into a psychedelic experiment with the addition of Indian sitar.

From Los Angeles Times • May 29, 2024

I saw the sitar player, an angry expression on his face, pulling away from Mala and hurrying toward me.

From "Homeless Bird" by Gloria Whelan