VIOL

noun Etymology: Middle English vial, from Anglo-French viele, ~e, from Old Occitan ~a Date: 15th century a bowed stringed instrument chiefly of the 16th and 17th centuries made in treble, alto, tenor, and bass sizes and distinguished from members of the ~in family especially in having a deep body, a flat back, sloping shoulders, usually six strings, a fretted fingerboard, and a low-arched bridge