violin

A violin is the small wooden string instrument held under the chin and played with a bow. Play the violin, a violin concerto, learn the violin.

It has four strings and no frets, so intonation is entirely the player's responsibility, which is why beginners sound as they do. Fiddle is the same instrument under a folk-music name. In an orchestra the violins are divided into firsts and seconds, and the leader is the principal first violin. Note violinist; and that a Stradivarius is a violin made by Antonio Stradivari, of which about six hundred survive.