mandolin

mandolin , musical instrument of the lute family, with a half-pear-shaped body, a fretted neck, and a variable number of strings, plucked with the fingers or with a plectrum. The earlier mandolin, with five double strings, was developed from the mandola, a 17th-century lute. The Neapolitan mandolin, a smaller type having four pairs of strings, became popular in the 18th cent. and is the usual present-day mandolin. In popular music it is generally played with a tremolo motion. Notable uses of the mandolin in serious music are in Mozart's Don Giovanni and in pieces by Beethoven and Mahler.

mandolin Stringed musical instrument related to the lute and associated with 18th-century Italy. It has four or six paired wire strings, which are played with a plectrum. It is most often used today as an accompaniment to folk songs and dances.