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bou·zou·ki (b-zkē, bə-)
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n. pl. bou·zou·kis
A Greek stringed instrument having a long fretted neck and usually pear-shaped body.
[Modern Greek mpouzoúki, from Turkish bozuk (saz), a kind of saz (literally, "broken saz"), from bozuk, broken (probably in reference to bozuk düzen, broken tuning, a kind of reentrant tuning often used on the saz and bouzouki); akin to Old Turkic buzuk, destroyed, spoiled, from buzmaq, to destroy, spoil.]
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bouzouki
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2020 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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