Meanings
plural lutenists · alternative lutanist
- One who plays the lute, a lutist.
A group of composers, variously known as the madrigalists, the lutenists, or the virginalists (depending on the medium for which they were writing), produced vast quantities of attractive music, mostly for amateur consumption.
2003, Edward L. Kottick, A History of the Harpsichord, page 2001 more example
And the cello concerto was strikingly different on Sunday: at Weill, the ensemble included two violinists and one violist, cellist, bassist and lutenist, but on Sunday four more violinists, a second violist and a harpsichordist were added to give the ripieno sections of the fast movements a heftier punch than the smaller group delivered.
2009 January 20, Allan Kozinn, “Shafts of Sun in Winter From the Italian Baroque”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 26 Nov 2022Synonyms: lutist
Synonyms & antonyms
nounOne who plays the lute, a lutist.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Frenchlut
- Medieval Latinlutanista
- Englishlutenist
Borrowed from Medieval Latin lutanista, from lutana (“lute”), from Middle French lut. By surface analysis, lute + -n- + -ist.
More words from Medieval Latin, Middle French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Czech loutnista
- loutnistaone who plays the lute
Hungarian lantos
- lantosone who plays the lute
Irish seinnteoir liúite, liúiteadóir
- seinnteoir liúiteone who plays the lute
- liúiteadóirone who plays the lute
Italian liutista
- liutistaone who plays the lute
Portuguese alaudista
- alaudistaone who plays the lute
Russian лютни́ст, лютни́стка
- лютни́ст (ljutníst)one who plays the lute
- лютни́стка (ljutnístka)one who plays the lute
Cite this entry
lutenist. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lutenist
“lutenist.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lutenist. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “lutenist,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lutenist.
Source: lutenist on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.