Lute /luːt/ can refer generally to any string instrument having the strings running in a plane parallel to the sound table (in the Hornbostel–Sachs system), more specifically to any plucked string instrument with a neck (either fretted or unfretted) and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes.The European lute and the modern Near-Eastern oud descend from a common ancestor via diverging evolutionary paths.