Etymology

lyre

L1Y4R1E1

Today it means: An ancient stringed musical instrument (a yoke lute chordophone) of Greek origin, consisting of two arms extending from a body to a crossbar (a yoke), and strings, parallel to the soundboard, connecting the body to the yoke. Full definition →

Middle English lire ← Old French lire ← Latin lyra
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Ancient Greek · derived fromλύρᾱ“lyre, a stringed instrument with a sounding-board formed of the shell of a tortoise”
  2. Latin · derived fromlyra
  3. Old French · derived fromlire
  4. Middle English · inherited fromlire
  5. English todaylyre

From Middle English lire (13th c.), from Old French lire, from Latin lyra, from Ancient Greek λύρᾱ (lúrā, “lyre, a stringed instrument with a sounding-board formed of the shell of a tortoise”). Doublet of lira, lyra, and Lyra.

Words from the same roots

Middle Englishlire all →

lire

Latinlyra all →

lyra

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.