What is "lamellophone"

alt. (context musical instruments English) Any of several musical instruments in which the sound is produced by plucking a series of thin lamellaa attached to a sounding board n. (context musical instruments English) Any of several musical instruments in which the sound is produced by plucking a series of thin lamellaa attached to a sounding board

A lamellophone (also lamellaphone or linguaphone, from the Latin root lingua meaning "tongue", i.e., a long thin plate that is fixed only at one end) is any of a family of musical instruments.

The name comes from the Latin word "lamella" for "plate" and the Greek root "phonos" for "sound". The name derives from the way the sound is produced: the instrument has a series of thin plates, or "tongues", each of which is fixed at one end and has the other end free. When the musician depresses the free end of a plate with a finger or fingernail, and then allows the finger to slip off, the released plate vibrates.

The lamellophones constitute category 12 in the Hornbostel-Sachs system for classifying musical instruments.