Jew's harp

or Jews' harp

noun

1. (sometimes lowercase) a small, simple musical instrument consisting of a lyre-shaped metal frame containing a metal tongue, which is plucked while the frame is held in the teeth, the vibrations causing twanging tones.

jew's-harp

noun

1. a musical instrument consisting of a small lyre-shaped metal frame held between the teeth, with a steel tongue plucked with the finger. Changes in pitch are produced by varying the size of the mouth cavities

Word History and Origins

Origin of Jew's harp¹

First recorded in 1585–95; perhaps jocular; earlier called Jew's trump

Example Sentences

But the work that made him world famous, and that was best known to moviegoers, was his blend of music and sound effects for Sergio Leone’s so-called spaghetti westerns of the 1960s: a ticking pocket watch, a sign creaking in the wind, buzzing flies, a twanging Jew’s harp, haunting whistles, cracking whips, gunshots and a bizarre, wailing “ah-ee-ah-ee-ah,” played on a sweet potato-shaped wind instrument called an ocarina.

From New York Times

Mr. Morricone used a Jew’s harp and a synthesizer to create “a kind of music of the grotesque.”

From Washington Post

There was something tough and austere about them, perhaps because of Prine’s voice – a rough, artless, nasal rasp that Dylan suggested sounded as if Prine had swallowed a jew’s harp.

From The Guardian

It sounds something like a Jew’s harp, but much louder.

From Slate

Morricone may have created much of the musical language surrounding westerns – from bullwhips cracking to the twang of the jew’s harp – but as he regularly points out, they make up less than 10% of his soundtrack work.

From The Guardian