Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A Chinese stringed instrument that is played with a bow and has two strings stretched from a small sound box along a long thin neck.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A type of Chinese
fiddle having two strings.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Mandarin èrhú : èr, two (in reference to its two strings) (from Middle Chinese ri`, from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *g-nis; akin to Tibetan gnyis and Burmese hnac) + hú, peoples of Central Asia (in reference to the instrument's Central Asian origin) (from Middle Chinese xɦuə̆).]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Mandarin 二胡 (èrhú), from 二 ("two") + 胡 ("fiddle; short for 胡琴, a family of Chinese vertical fiddles").
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Examples
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I got so into the swing of things that I even broke my music rule and threw away my erhu, a Chinese two-stringed instrument my brother had carted around Asia years ago as a gift for me but which I’d never unboxed.
I was a hopeless hoarder – until I was forced to throw out 50 things I own Tim Jonze 2024
reesetee commented on the word erhu
Also called "nanhu" and sometimes known in the west as a Chinese violin. A two-stringed bowed musical instrument, used as a solo instrument as well as in small ensembles and large orchestras.
March 20, 2008