Dulcimer

The term dulcimer refers to two families of musical string instruments.

Hammered dulcimers

The word dulcimer originally referred to a trapezoidal zither similar to a psaltery whose many strings are struck by handheld "hammers". Variants of this instrument are found in many cultures, including:

Hammered dulcimer
Hackbrett
Tsymbaly, tsimbl, țambal and cimbalom may refer to either a relatively small folk instrument or a larger classical instrument. The santouri is almost identical to the Jewish and Romanian folk instruments.
Santur
Santoor is constructed and tuned differently from the santur of Iran and Iraq
Khim
Yangqin, Đàn tam thập lục, yanggeum
Appalachian dulcimer and derivatives

In the Appalachian region of the U.S. in the nineteenth century, hammered dulcimers were rare. There, the word dulcimer, which was familiar from the King James Version of the Bible, was used to refer to a three or four stringed fretted instrument, generally played on the lap by strumming.
Variants include:

The original Appalachian dulcimer
Various twentieth century derivatives, including
* Banjo dulcimer, with banjo-like resonating membrane
* Resonator dulcimer, with inset conical resonator
* Bowed dulcimer, teardrop-shaped and played upright with a bow
* Electric dulcimer, various types of dulcimer which use a pickup to amplify the sound

Dulcimer

Hammered dulcimers

Appalachian dulcimer and derivatives