noun
One of a pair of round metal cymbals attached to the fingers and struck together for rhythm and percussion in belly dancing.
Origin of zill
Turkish zil cymbals probably ( perhaps via Armenian zil highest-pitched pair of strings on an oud ) from Persian zīr highest-pitched pair of strings on an oud, shrill sound probably from Arabizing alteration of Persian zēr under, below (in reference to the fact that when a player holds an oud to be played, the bottom pair of strings is tuned the highest) from Middle Persian azēr under, below az from, out of ( from Old Iranian hačā ; see sekw-1 in Indo-European roots.) ēr down, below ( from Old Iranian aδara- lower ; see &nlowring;dher- in Indo-European roots.)
zill
