plectrum

plectrum

any implement for plucking a string, such as a small piece of plastic, wood, etc., used to strum a guitar, or the quill that plucks the string of a harpsichord

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Plectrum

 

a small, thin piece of ivory, plastic, metal, or goose quill or a ring with a “claw” that is worn on the finger. A plectrum is used to pluck the strings and to produce tremolo on plucked stringed instruments, such as the zither, mandolin, and domra.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.