biwa

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“
Its origins date back as far as Mesopotamia and Pharaonic Egypt; it is a distant cousin of Russia's balalaika and Japan's biwa, and the forefather of the European lute.

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Definitions (2)

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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (2)

  1. The loquat; the fruit of the Photinia Japonica.
  2. A Japanese musical instrument with four strings, resembling a flat mandolin.

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Examples (36)

  • From bottome left: sakura sembei (rice crackers flavoured with dried shrimp and preserved cherry leaves), mini sweet potato cakes (they had come wrapped in the green paper in the picture above), sakura daifuku (mochi stuffed with sakura flavoured sweet bean paste), and biwa (loquat) cake. —  Blue Lotus
  • Of the snacks above only the sweet potato cakes and biwa cake were souviners, from Kawagoe and Chiba, respectively. —  Blue Lotus
  • Its origins date back as far as Mesopotamia and Pharaonic Egypt; it is a distant cousin of Russia's balalaika and Japan's biwa, and the forefather of the European lute. —  WalesOnline - Home
  • I'm really starting to like Shamisen; this Japanophile is more used to biwa music. ohhhhhhhh I have listened to some at the Japan Australia Friendship club here in Adelaide Lol. —  The Web Comic List - Latest Webcomics
  • But the master of Tamiya was as close-fisted and hard and bitter as an unripe biwa (medlar). —  The Yotsuya Kwaidan or O'Iwa Inari Tales of the Tokugawa, Volume 1 (of 2)
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Japanese, = Chinese pi-pa, the Chinese medlar.
  2. Japanese, = Chinese pi-pa, a guitar.
 

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