A member of the 'long neck lute' family with a pear-shaped body and a very long neck, similar to a mandola. It is played with a plectrum and has a sharp metallic sound.

There are 3 main types of bouzouki:

- trichordo - having 3 pairs (courses) of strings
- tetrachordo (shown) - having 4 pairs of strings
- Irish - having 4 pairs of strings and a flat back tuned [GDAE] or [GDAD] (the same as an octave mandolin).

This can also be a cittern, with an added lower course to make [DGDAE], [DCGAD] or similar. The 'giant' 6-course model has this scale and is tuned [DADGAD] just like the DADGAD guitar.

The bouzouki is the mainstay of modern Greek music as well as other Balkan folk music, particularly of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.