Zither, pronounced [ˈtsɪtɐ], is the name of both a class of musical stringed instruments, and of certain particular instruments within that class.The word zither is a German rendering of the Latin word cithara, from which the modern word guitar is also derived. Historically it has been used to describe any instrument of the cittern family, or an instrument consisting of many strings stretched across a thin, flat body – similar to a psaltery.