oud
/uːd/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.44 in modern English
4
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A short-necked and fretless plucked stringed instrument of the lute family, of Arab and Turkish origin.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "Oriental music is chiefly unrhythmical [...]. It is mostly rendered by a solo voice with accompaniment of the Ud, a kind of lyre or mandolin, or Kanun, resembling a guitar."
- "Common throughout the Arab and Persian world, the oud is a fretless short-neck lute with a pear-shaped, flat top, rounded back, and a peghead characteristically bent backwards at a very sharp angle. The oud's origins are unknown, although myths attribute either celestial or magical beginnings, it more likely came from ancient Persia."
- "The recent fashion for oud (the noble rot of Aquilaria trees) took flight when YSL released M7, where the oud accord was center stage. It came with an advertising campaign featuring a hairy naked guy, a sight rated “beautiful” by my co-author. Real oud is complex material, with honey, tobacco, leaf, minty-fresh and castoreum animalic notes all mixed together."
Etymology
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: عُود, ع و د