long-necked lute played under various names from the Balkans to northwestern Asia. Closely resembling the ancient Greek pandoura and the long lutes of ancient Egypt and Babylon, it has a deep, pear-shaped body, a fretted neck, and 2 to 10 double courses of metal strings fastened with front and side tuning pegs without a pegbox.

The tanbur has remained popular since medieval times. Its derivatives include the Greek bouzouki and the South Asian sitar and tamboura.