Other forms: banjos
A banjo is a round-bodied string instrument with a bright twanging tone. Play the banjo, a five-string banjo, banjo music.
The body is a drum with a skin head, which is why it is so loud and so short on sustain — the note dies almost at once, and fast picking exists to fill that gap. It was brought to America by enslaved West Africans and became central to bluegrass.
1nounbanjoA round-bodied string instrument with a bright tone.
“He sat on the porch playing folk songs on his banjo.”
banjo is an instrument.
From the speech of enslaved Africans in America; the further origin is uncertain, possibly a West African instrument name or a corruption of bandore.
kmb
mbanza
mnk
banjul
Spanish
bandurria
English, today
banjo
From the pronunciation of African slaves, of unknown ultimate origin. Possibly a corruption of bandore (from Spanish bandurria), alternatively from a West African language such as mnk banjul, or kmb mbanza.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA