Illustration of banjo
banjo
noun
ban·jo ˈban-(ˌ)jō 
plural banjos also banjoes
: a musical instrument with a drumlike body, a fretted neck, and usually four or five strings which may be plucked or strummed
banjoist
ˈban-ˌjō-ist
noun 
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web When in Thailand, Mr. Moloney largely hung up his banjo and joined an old Irish friend of his, Father Joe, to raise funds for orphans at the Mercy Center in Bangkok. 
Phil Davison, BostonGlobe.com, 30 July 2022 Gear applied more country instrumentation, with fiddler Eamon McLoughlin, steel guitarist Russ Pahl and Bryan Sutton doubling on acoustic guitar and banjo. Tom Roland, Billboard, 28 June 2022 Davidson played banjo and harmonized with the Everly Brothers. Geoff Edgers, Washington Post, 24 June 2022 Long is a multi-instrumentalist, and came to the audition with a bodhran – an Irish drum – and a banjo. Leo Barraclough, Variety, 15 Aug. 2022 Guitar players and banjo pickers, fiddlers and mandolinists, even bongo drummers would form a half-dozen spontaneous circles with a different song building in each. Sam Whiting, San Francisco Chronicle, 11 Aug. 2022 Pete Seeger, the banjo-playing folk singer whose music was indelibly intertwined with his social activism, was honored Thursday as the latest American musician to appear on a U.S. postage stamp. From Usa Today Network And Wire Reports, USA TODAY, 22 July 2022 The festival has even added two new stages this year, which will feature banjo wunderkind Nora Brown and other newcomers and festival mainstays like J.P. Harris. Stuart Munro, BostonGlobe.com, 19 July 2022 In another scene, Rose is practicing the piano and Phil enters the house, goes upstairs to his room and taunts her through his sounds and with his banjo playing. Carolyn Giardina, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 Feb. 2022 See More
Phil Davison, BostonGlobe.com, 30 July 2022 Gear applied more country instrumentation, with fiddler Eamon McLoughlin, steel guitarist Russ Pahl and Bryan Sutton doubling on acoustic guitar and banjo. Tom Roland, Billboard, 28 June 2022 Davidson played banjo and harmonized with the Everly Brothers. Geoff Edgers, Washington Post, 24 June 2022 Long is a multi-instrumentalist, and came to the audition with a bodhran – an Irish drum – and a banjo. Leo Barraclough, Variety, 15 Aug. 2022 Guitar players and banjo pickers, fiddlers and mandolinists, even bongo drummers would form a half-dozen spontaneous circles with a different song building in each. Sam Whiting, San Francisco Chronicle, 11 Aug. 2022 Pete Seeger, the banjo-playing folk singer whose music was indelibly intertwined with his social activism, was honored Thursday as the latest American musician to appear on a U.S. postage stamp. From Usa Today Network And Wire Reports, USA TODAY, 22 July 2022 The festival has even added two new stages this year, which will feature banjo wunderkind Nora Brown and other newcomers and festival mainstays like J.P. Harris. Stuart Munro, BostonGlobe.com, 19 July 2022 In another scene, Rose is practicing the piano and Phil enters the house, goes upstairs to his room and taunts her through his sounds and with his banjo playing. Carolyn Giardina, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 Feb. 2022 See More Word History
Etymology
probably of African origin; akin to Kimbundu mbanza, a similar instrument
First Known Use
1739, in the meaning defined above
Phrases Containing banjo
Kids Definition
banjo
noun
ban·jo ˈban-jō
plural banjos
: a musical instrument with a round body, long neck, and four or five strings